Thank Q, Captain!
by xxxdolphinmelodyxxx
Summary: Captain Janeway hasn't been feeling to well for a few months and it leads her to discover something she couldn't even imagined to be possible. She and the rest of the crew have no idea how this 'surprise' came to be... But Q might! Q being Q tries his best to rectify this 'little problem' with the Captain but Q being Q just makes the situation a whole lot worse... J/C Pairing.
1. The Q Continuum

Chapter 1

Kathryn Janeway and Q had taken shelter behind an old fashioned sofa in an old fashioned drawing room. Some sort of 'Q bullets' where destroying the main window and rubble was falling all over the room. Q had taken a major hit to the shoulder and was bleeding massively. This worried Kathryn immensely because this weapon had seriously wounded an omnipotent being… she didn't even want to know what this weapon might do to her!

She ripped part of the lining from her dress and applied it to the wound hoping it would at least slow down the blood which was pouring away from Q's arm. He moaned in pain as she tried her best to help him.

"Ow… that hurts!" he cried.

"Be still." she instructed.

He lay there looking up at her, praying to himself that the pain would eventually decrease.

"I never thought a Q could be injured!" she exclaimed.

"As I said," he started, "This is only a perception of what is happening."

She instinctively ducked as a nearby vase exploded due to being shot by another bullet.

"I can assure you," he continued, "Those are not mere cannonballs and lead charges being fired at us."

This concerned her a lot more… the Q race were fighting one another with some sort of deadly weapon. There wasn't a chance in hell one of those – if shot at her – wouldn't kill her instantly.

"So they're some sort of, Q Weapons?" she asked him.

He chuckled. That was exactly what is was, a weapon created all because one immortal being was set on killing another, and he couldn't help feeling guilty… He had caused this war. Yes, it was for the right reason and he believed it was right to fight for it, he just didn't expect the war to be so brutal and kill so many innocent people.

=/\=

Kathryn had to admit in now, she was tired. No, not tired, shattered. She'd just lugged Q's unconscious human body to a war camp to get him to safety… if you could call it safety.

She remembered the last time she'd been in the Continuum. It was just a simple road in a dessert where no one talked or even moved. There was no fighting or killing or pain of any kind. What she wouldn't have given for it to still be like that…

Then, of course, there was Voyager. They were somewhere in space, probably millions of light years away or maybe even in another level of reality, trying to evade massive supernovas which were slowly destroying them. Oh how she longed to be back there with her friends, with Chakotay. She really missed him. They'd only been in a relationship for about three months yet they both loved each other immensely. Kathryn was worried at first as it was a breech of protocol, but they were in a unique situation. She just wanted to go back to Voyager, back to Chakotay, back to her home which she could easily say was much safer than where she was.

Well, at least the fighting had stopped for now. It gave her time to slow down and breathe. It had been a very "stressful" day, and that was putting it mildly. However, she wasn't the one who needed help, Q did.

She swiftly made her way over to the small campfire and collected some warm water-like substance from the pot. It definitely wasn't water, but what it was she couldn't answer. Anyway, she dipped her flannel into it and started dabbing it over Q's forehead. She was no medic, but from what she could tell, his injury was making him very weak and drowsy, probably due to an infection of some kind.

Q awoke suddenly as the cold flannel was placed on his head. He looked up and asked the Captain:

"Where are we?"

"One of your faction's encampments." she answered.

He was amazed. The last thing he remembered was stumbling out of the house after denying to stand down at the order of the Q General.

"How?" he questioned.

"I pulled you out of the mansion and managed to hide you from the enemy patrols." she replied, "Then I spotted some of your people retreating from the battle… From the look of them, I'd say you're not on the winning side."

Q looked up at her and held her hand.

"You saved my life." he said gratefully, "Thank-you Kathy."

=/\=

Later that night as Kathryn lay asleep, Q awoke. He was unaccustomed to sleeping; it was something completely alien to him. Once he got his bearing, he looked over at the beautiful angel who lay near to him, his lifesaver.

Part of him understood why she didn't want to mate with him but another part of him still couldn't fully understand her hesitance. It would be a chance of a lifetime, would it not?

He slowly crawled over to her. She looked so peaceful. He had to try to do something to thank her for saving his life. Then he got an idea. He'd give her a chance to have the gift of a lifetime. She'd thank him for it one day, at least he hoped she would.

He picked up her hand and placed it on his. He then placed his other hand on top of it and sighed. It felt so right to hold her like that. He watched her flinch slightly as a golden energy ran through his hands and up her arm and into her body. He waited a moment and then examined her body.

"Nothing happened…" he whispered to himself, "Maybe we just aren't compatible after all…"

Q sighed and laid his head back on the rock. He listened to the silence and looked up at the stars above. Maybe Kathy was right, maybe it was time to end the war.


	2. Shore Leave at Davrax

Chapter 2

_Captain's Log_

_It's been three weeks since our encounter with the Q Continuum. Since then our journey has been pretty uneventful. At the moment we are travelling through a sparsely populated region with no present dangers, so the crew is seizing this opportunity to upgrade their sections and have a bit of well earned R&R. I've given permission to Lt. Torres' team to finally refit the warp coils so for the moment we're travelling at impulse._

_End Log_

The Captain sat in her ready room reading through the Engineering reports. It was a dull task but someone had to do it. She attempted to read through Lt. Murphy's report but her mind kept wondering back to the night before. Chakotay had treated her to a surprise picnic on the Holodeck. She could still taste the coffee ice cream he'd treated her to. She actually wanted some at that time but that would have spoilt the fact that it had been a treat the night before. She sighed and slammed the PADD back onto her desk. She couldn't concentrate on it anymore. Maybe the task was too dull to attempt.

"Computer, chocolate chip cookie dough." she ordered.

She smiled as she heard it materialise in her replicator. Slowly pushing back on her chair, she inhaled the glorious smell which was already dispersing throughout the air. She stood up and made her way over to the replicator. When she got there she went to pick up the dessert. She suddenly flinched at the heat eminating from the dish and pulled her hand away.

"Damn!" she swore as a nice red mark started to form on her hand.

"Warning: Plate hot." said the computer in its monotone voice.

"Now you tell me!" she exclaimed.

She looked over her replicator, almost believing for a second it had a mind of its own.

"Don't you dare start being like the replicator in my quarters!" she told it.

After a moment she picked up the dish which had cooled considerably. She slowly sat on the sofa and inhaled the aroma being dispelled from the dish in front of her. She picked up the spoon and dug into the dough. Just as she went to place it in her mouth, she got a hail from the Bridge.

"Bridge to Janeway." hailed Tuvok.

She sighed as she put the dish onto the small coffee table in front of her.

"Yes Tuvok?" she replied, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice.

"We are being hailed by an approaching vessel."

"On my way." she replied.

A moment later she entered the Bridge and looked at the approaching vessel on the viewscreen.

"On screen." she ordered.

A man appeared on the screen with a smile which almost could have beaten the Cheshire Cat of the classic fairytale _Alice In Wonderland. _He looked almost human in appearance apart from the fact he had purple lips and dark green hair.

"I'm Halacanti of the planet Davrax, can we be of any assistance?" he asked.

"Assistance?" inquired the Captain.

"You seem to be travelling through this region at a sub-warp speed, is there a problem we can assist with?" he asked.

The Captain smiled.

"We're fine thank-you." she informed him, "My engineer needed us to decrease our speed in order to refit our warp coils, but thank you for your offer."

He smiled and looked at the Captain and Commander.

"I don't recognise you species." he said, "I don't mean to be inquisitive but where do you come from?"

"We're human from a planet over 65,000 light years away called Earth." she told him.

"65,000?" he asked, quite shocked at the distance, "You must miss home terribly!"

"We do." said the Captain.

"Well, Captain…?" he trailed off.

"Janeway." she replied, "Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager."

"Well, Captain Kathryn Janeway, we live in a system only half a light year away and we have many supplies we can offer to you." he said, "Come and join us. It will give you time to complete your refit and maybe, if you wish, give you a vacation you all look like you need."

Kathryn considered it. It would give B'Elanna time refit the coils and get them up to peak efficiency. She looked over at Chakotay, he didn't seem too hesitant, then again, none of the Bridge crew did, not even Tuvok. She looked back at Mr Halacanti and smiled.

"Okay then Mr Halacanti, lead the way."

"Excellent!" he exclaimed, "My crew are transmitting the coordinates to you now."

"I've got them." Harry informed her.

She took a seat in her chair and looked at Tom Paris, her helms officer.

"Engage."

"Aye Captain." he said, setting a course to the binary system just under four hours away.

=/\=

Voyager arrived at Davrax along with Mr. Halacanti's ship which was evenly matched with speed. She wasn't going to lie, she was a bit sceptical about him, it wasn't often they met considerably nice people like this who didn't have ulterior motives.

Kathryn looked at the planet which they were approaching. The landmasses were red and the oceans where orange. Apart from the colour, the planet looked similar to Earth in the late 20th Century.

"Wow." said Chakotay.

"Wow indeed." confirmed Tom, "It looks beautiful."

"Welcome to Davrax, Voyager!" exclaimed Halacanti when the viewscreen activated, "You are all very welcome here. Please enjoy!"

The communication ended abruptly leaving the Captain smiling at the idea of a vacation on one of the most beautiful planets she had seen in a long time. The Captain turned to the Commander who's smile was also beaming.

"Can you organise a shore leave rota?" she asked.

"Certainly." he said, sitting on his seat and getting right down to business.

The Captain's happiness was suddenly replaced with an almighty headache which rapidly crept all over her head. She winced in pain and pinched the arch of her nose.

"Captain?" asked Chakotay as he stood up and went over to try and help her.

"I'm fine." she said, trying to pull away from his support.

This wasn't the first time her head had felt life this. Over the past couple of weeks headaches like this had been her constant companion. It felt as though her brain was burning and was melting her skull.

She stumbled back and was quickly caught by Chakotay had been standing less than a metre away from her.

"Captain?" he asked again, getting slightly concerned.

The Captain took a deep breath and suddenly the pain passed.

"Captain, are you alright?" asked Chakotay.

It took her a moment to catch her breath, but then she answered:

"I am now."

"Maybe you should go to Sick Bay." he suggested.

"No." she said abruptly, "I'm just going to go to my quarters."

"Captain…"

"Commander," she interrupted, "If it happens again I promise I'll go to Sick Bay, okay?"

He smiled. That seemed to be the best response he would get.

"Okay."

=/\=

_Captain's Log_

_The crew has just spent nine days of R&R on Davrax. Mr. Halacanti and Mr. Neelix have had a ball trading supplies for the last couple of days days and according to Neelix we now have enough to make it all the way back to the Alpha Quadrant and back again. _

_Tommorow we will depart at 0900 hours so Mr. Halacanti has invited us down to their main hall for a send off party and to be honest, I'm quite excited. I've only been down to the planet once so tonight should be good._

_End Log_

"Ready to go?" called Chakotay.

He was in Kathryn's quarters waiting for to get ready. She was already dressed in an emerald green dress which came just below her knees and her hair was tied in a loose ponytail. The reason why she was taking so long was the fact that she felt incredibly nauseous. Every move she made intensified the feeling but she still didn't want to go to Sick Bay.

"Kathryn?" Chakotay asked.

She sighed.

"I'm coming." she answered

She entered her living area and saw Chakotay waiting for her. His smile grew twice the size when he saw her.

"You look beautiful." he told her.

She smiled weakly, and it didn't go unnoticed.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

His protective streak was starting to show and she noticed. She liked the fact that he cared, she just hated being mollycoddled.

"I'm not gonna lie, I've been better." she told him, "Can we go now?"

Chakotay didn't want to argue with her. He knew she hadn't been 100% over the last few days but he also knew she was looking forward to the party so he wasn't going to stop her.

"After you." he said.

=/\=

The party had been non-stop fun for everyone. The entire Bridge crew – all except Tuvok – were there and at least eighty other Voyager crew members, along with about one hundred other Davraxians. It was one of the oddest things Chakotay had ever seen. All the male Davraxians had green hair and the females had orange hair and they could all dance for hours without needing to stop. One the other hand, the Captain was shattered. Chakotay had had to share her with Mr. Halacanti who was ecstatic that she had finally come to the planet for a bit of personal R&R.

About two hours of constant dancing, Kathryn had decided to retire to a nearby table. Chakotay, who had been dancing with the female Davraxian, stopped and went to join her. As he approached he saw she was a little pale and she looked completely drained.

"Kathryn, are you sure you're okay?" he enquired.

She smiled feebly at him.

"I'm tired." she admitted.

"Do you want to go back to the ship?" he asked.

She sighed, almost like she'd given in.

"Maybe it's time." she agreed.

His eyes widened. That was too easy… She never agreed to things that easily. They both stood up and turned. The face of Mr. Halacanti appeared in front of Kathryn in a nanosecond, making her jump right into Chakotay's arms.

"I'm so sorry Captain." he apologised, "I didn't mean to startle you."

Once her heart returned to normal, she looked over at her very hyperactive new friend.

"Its okay." she reassured him, "but I'm going to go back to Voyager now."

"I understand of course." he told her, "I'm amazed how someone in your condition could handle dancing non-stop for so long."

"Condition?" enquired Chakotay, "What condition?"

Kathryn had absolutely no idea what Mr. Halacanti meant but his words had scared her. She turned to Chakotay for some support and looked back at Mr Halacanti. Did he know the reason why she had felt so bad for the past couple of days?

"I'm sorry." he said when he noticed the look of worry which had appeared on her face, "I shouldn't have said that."

Chakotay turned to Kathryn. He could feel her pulse beating faster than a shuttle flying at transwarp.

"Good luck Captain." he said, "Have a good voyage home."

Mr Halacanti disappeared into the crowd while Kathryn, who was physically shaking, looked up at Chakotay.

"C-Chakotay?" she asked, "What did he mean by 'condition'?"

He didn't know what to say. He hated it when she felt scared like she did at that moment in time.

"Come on; let's get you back to Voyager."


	3. Medical Emergency

Chapter 3

It had been just under a month since Voyager's encounter with the Davraxians. Since then, Kathryn hadn't had any health scared, well, apart from the headaches which were still her most dominate companions.

"Chakotay to Janeway." came his familiar voice over the com system.

"Go ahead." she responded.

"Captain we need you in Engineering." he said, "There's something here you should see."

"On my way." she informed him.

When she got to Engineering, she saw Torres and Chakotay looking at a console, looking quite concerned at what they had found.

"What have you got?" she asked them.

"Some bad news." replied Chakotay, "The long range probe we sent out two months ago had stopped transmitting."

"At first I thought it was a problem with the communication's grid but then I cut up the last few seconds of telemetry." said B'Elanna, "Take a look at this."

She watched as B'Elanna showed her the telemetry. There was a cube shaped vessel, the inside of the ship and then the devil's helper himself… a Borg drone.

"This could be it, Captain." Chakotay said, "Borg Space."

She gulped considerably… They truly were on the highway to Hell.

=/\=

It had only been a month yet it had felt like a lifetime. It had took them two weeks to help the Borg defeat Species 8472. They'd managed to survive – almost – and they had gained a new crew member, Seven of Nine. Sadly, they had lost Kes when she decided to experiment with her new abilities. That upset Kathryn quite a bit. Kes had grown up on Voyager and she felt like a mother figure to her so she found it quite distressing to let her go.

Lucky Seven of Nine wasn't a major threat like she had been when she first came to Voyager and she was slowly starting to embrace her individuality. This pleased the Captain. She even looked human again, well, apart from the cybernetic implants.

The ship had just rescued Tom and B'Elanna from space after the incident with the Caatati and now they had some peace and quiet. The next inhabited system was over fifty light years away which would give the crew a couple of weeks of free time, something the Captain was in a great need of.

Kathryn awoke early in the morning. Her head was spinning again and she could have sworn that the ceiling was moving. Everything was blurred and she was exceptionally hot and sweaty.

"Computer, what time is it?" she asked groggily.

"0320 hours."

She attempted to roll over and continue to sleep but her stomach felt extremely uneasy, especially when she moved. After a moment, a sudden feeling made her dart out of her bed and into the bathroom. She felt very nauseous, and seconds later she was bringing up whatever food she had left in her stomach.

After an hour she could barely breathe. She had vomited countless times and there was hardly enough time to have a deep breath before it happened again. She couldn't deal with it any longer...

"Sick Bay." she panted when she had a moment, "Medical Emergency."

The Doctor's program activated to the sound of the Captain's cry.

"Captain?" he asked as he tried to recognise the voice he had just heard.

There was no response.

"Computer, locate Captain Janeway."

"Captain Janeway is in her quarters."

He quickly gathered up his med-kit and headed to the Captain's quarters.

When he arrived and entered, he saw her bed was empty and she didn't respond when he called for her. He went over and looked in her office. She wasn't in there either.

"Doctor?" she murmured.

Luckily he had heard her call and managed to find her within seconds.

"Captain!" he exclaimed, "What happened?"

She was perched over the sink with tears pouring down her face. She was as white as snow and she looked incredibly weak. He sat her down on the floor and took out a hypospray to stop her sickness. After a moment, he stomach settled and she started breathing deeply.

"Better?" he asked.

She nodded. The Doctor then took out his tricorder and started to examine her. She was tired and her temperature was off the scale but he couldn't find an immediate cause.

"Captain, I want you to come to Sick Bay." he told her.

He was quite shocked when she agreed. She must have felt exceedingly bad if she was actually consenting to go to Sick Bay.

=/\=

It was the strangest dream. It had felt real yet she couldn't remember the experience. The details were vague and were definitely not in the correct time order. From what she could work out, she was lying on a beach, the sun in her hair and she could hear distance fireworks. She couldn't open her eyes. She could hear someone crawling near to her, panting as if they were either hurt or injured. She felt a warm sensation flow through her body and an instant pain fluttered in her stomach. Just like a dream it then suddenly changed for no apparent reason. Then she was lying on a cold, hard surface looking up at the stars which seemed to be smiling at her. One formation seemed to spell out the word 'vitam'. She had no idea what it meant but just like anything in a dream she dismissed it.

She awoke to a bright white light shining down in her eyes. She wasn't in her quarters and when her vision started to clear up, she saw the Doctor walking over to her.

"Doctor?" she asked, "What happened?"

"You collapsed on me as I attempted to walk you to Sick Bay." he informed her.

"Collapsed?"

"You were exhausted Captain." he told her, "You've been asleep for over ten hours."

"Ten hours?" she cried, "What time is it?"

"1500 hours." he replied.

She was in disbelief. She couldn't even remember when she'd ever slept that long before.

"Well, I feel much better now." she said, "Can I leave?"

"Captain, I don't know what made you ill this morning." he told her, "I can't risk letting you go until I know what caused it."

She rolled her eyes and sighed.

=/\=

It had been a week since the Captain's sickness episode and ever since then she'd been as fit as a fiddle up until now. Suddenly she'd gone from being fine right back to square one, although this time her headaches and sickness felt one hundred times worse. She knew the Doctor had informed Chakotay about her episode the week before and ever since he had been jumping down her neck about not pushing herself too hard.

As she made her way to the Bridge, she felt her constant companion approaching her head again. She hadn't slept well the night before so she also felt a bit groggy and on edge.

As she entered the Bridge, the sound of singing consoles filled her head. As she 'waltzed' over to her chair, she was given three reports off the Commander, an Engineering one, a Medical one and one from the Astrometrics department, a department in desperate need of an upgrade.

"Thanks." she said putting on a fake smile.

"Do I detect a hint of sarcasm, Captain?" he asked, starting to smile.

"Me...Sarcasm?" she asked as they both took their seats, "Never!"

She started to read the report but the constant pattern of noise emanating from Tuvok's was driving her insane.

"Tuvok turn that damn thing down!" she shouted.

He was quite taken aback by her outburst.

"Aye Captain." he replied.

This ship was cruising along at warp six. They were travelling through sparsely populated region; the only interesting anomaly on sensors was a strange reading just under 100 light years away. At the very least they had a two or three week journey until they reached it.

The Captain attempted to read through the 16-page Engineering report. Her mind kept wondering away from the report, especially as the words kept becoming unfocused. The orchestra of the consoles was growing increasingly louder and head felt as if it would explode. The lights were also becoming far too bright for her liking. She closed her eyes in the hope of blocking it out.

A minute or so later, Chakotay looked at her and saw her resting her head on the back of her chair with her eyes still closed.

"Captain?" he whispered.

She jumped slightly and opened her eyes just to have the light blind her once again. Her reaction concerned the Commander considerably.

"I'm sorry." she whispered, "I think I'm going to go to my ready room."

"Captain…"

"You have the Bridge Commander." she interrupted before vacating the Bridge.

When she entered the ready room, she had to lean on the wall behind her to balance herself. Something definately wasn't right... She limped up to her sofa and sat down. The room seemed to be closing in on her and was spinning out of control. She started breathing deeply in attempt to steady herself but it had no effect.

After a moment she lay her head down on the sofa. That was the best position possible to make her head stop throbbing. Maybe a five minute rest wasn't such a bad idea...

=/\=

The Commander desperately wanted to check on Kathryn. She looked like hell when she went into her ready room and he wasn't the only person who had noticed. The rest of Bridge crew were worried too.

She'd been inside for half an hour with no contact with the Bridge. To be fair that wasn't unusual, but then again she'd never looked that off colour. He debated giving her another ten minutes peace and quiet but he was unsure if that was the correct course of action. He looked back at Tuvok. In his own Vulcan way, Chakotay could tell he was concerned too.

After another few minutes he had had enough.

"Tuvok, you have the Bridge." he ordered.

Tuvok nodded and headed down to the command chair. Chakotay, on the other hand, headed down to the ready room. He rang the bell. No response. He rang again, still no response. This concerned him more than he already was. He tapped in his command code onto the control pad in order to enter the room. He entered to find the Captain's lifeless body sprawled out on the sofa.

"Kathryn!" he cried.

She weakly opened her eyes at the sound of his voice and looked up at him.

"Chakotay?" she asked.

"What's wrong sweetheart?" he asked in a slight state of panic.

"My head…" she said as she winched in pain, "And my stomach…"

He looked down at the woman who lay before him. There was no doubt she was in considerable pain and he could tell by the redness of her eyes that she'd been crying.

"Chakotay to Transporter Room 2, Medical Emergency!" he declared, "Beam me and the Captain directly to Sick Bay!"


	4. Wasn't Expecting That

Chapter 4

The Doctor was straight into action as soon as the Captain and Commander materialised in Sick Bay. He swiftly helped the Commander lift her onto the biobed and immediately started the scans. The Captain was in absolute agony and Chakotay was terrified that something was seriously wrong with her.

The Doctor grabbed a hypospray off the desk and injected the Captain's neck. At first, Chakotay couldn't tell if he'd sedated her or just relieved the pain, all he knew was that she'd stopped yelping.

A moment later her eyes opened.

"Chakotay?" she asked weakly.

"Its alright." he told her, "I'm here."

He stroked her forehead before looking up at the Doctor who seemed to be constantly double checking his scans.

"What's wrong with her?" he asked.

"I'm… not sure." he answered truthfully, "I can't make heads or tails of these readings."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"All the pain seems to be linked to something in her stomach," he told him, "but there's some sort of energy field which is interfering with the signal."

"Energy field?" he asked, "What type of energy field?"

"It seems to be some sort on natural energy emanating from a mass in her stomach." he told him.

"A mass?" asked the Captain, who had just got her bearings back.

"I'm not sure Captain." said the EMH, "I'm really not sure."

He looked at the readings again and something clicked.

"Wait a minute…" he said.

"What is it?" cried Chakotay, holding Kathryn's hand extremely tightly.

"According to these reading…" he said, "You're pregnant Captain."

The Commander's jaw hit the floor while the Captain couldn't stop the dams in her eyes from bursting.

"But it's unlike any pregnancy I've ever seen." he said, constantly reading over the scans.

"How-How is that possible?" she asked.

"I don't think I have to tell you how 'it' happened, Captain." he told her, "But I have to ask, who's the father?"

The Captain was in shock while the Commander started to feel slightly angry. He knew for a fact it wasn't his!

"Yes Kathryn," he said, "Who's the father?"

She looked at him and shook her head. Tears continued to roll down her face.

"I-I don't know…" she stuttered, "I-I haven't been with anyone like 'that' since Mark…"

The Doctor frowned at that answer.

"What do you mean 'you haven't been with anyone'?" he asked.

She wiped her tears with her sleeve.

"Exactly that…" she trailed off.

Chakotay's anger towards her faded considerably and it was replaced by guilt. He couldn't believe he had even imagined for one second that she would have been unfaithful.

He then hugged her which allowed her to cry into his chest. She seemed to believe what she was saying and that desperately concerned them.

"Then, that means…" The Doctor started but then trailed off.

Chakotay gulped when he realised what it meant... The Captain obviously hadn't been a willing participant in this… act of procreation.

"Can you tell who the father is?" asked Chakotay.

"I can try and analyse the DNA," the Doctor started, "but the energy field is blocking the majority of my scans."

"Do it." he ordered.

"Aye Commander." he said, "It might take a few hours, you should take her back to her quarters."

Chakotay nodded.

"Contact me when you're done." he told him.

"Aye, sir."

=/\=

The Captain couldn't take it in. She, Kathryn Janeway, was pregnant… and she couldn't think who even had the chance to be the father.

Chakotay had walked her to her quarters almost half an hour before and now she was leaning on him, mostly for support. There was no way she'd be able to handle it if he wasn't with her. Her head was spinning at the thought of someone taking advantage of her. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't stop crying. Not even being in Chakotay's arms could stop her from breaking down.

As they both sat on the sofa, Chakotay kept rocking her back and forth in an attempt to calm her down. Even he felt physically sick when he thought of someone violating the woman he loved. He guaranteed himself that when he found out whom it was, he was going to kill him! He hated seeing Kathryn upset like this. His beautiful strong Captain had been reduced to an absolute wreck! Someone was going to pay for this, and he was going to make sure of it!

"Bridge to Janeway." came Tuvok's emotionless voice over the com system.

"Chakotay to Bridge." he replied to Tuvok's hail, "The Captain's unavailable right now, what's wrong?"

"A ship is approaching at high warp. They're asking for the Captain."

"Like I said, she's unavailable, as am I." he replied, "Tuvok, can you handle this?"

"Commander you don't understand," started Tuvok, "This ship is asking specifically for Captain Janeway."

The Captain, who had heard the entire conversation, composed herself before responding to Tuvok's hail.

"I'm on my way." she said as she stood up, "Janeway out."

Chakotay stood up and tried to pull her back.

"Kathryn…"

"Chakotay, I appreciate your concern," she told him wiping away her tears, "but this is still my ship and I can't deny my responsibility."

=/\=

What a day it had turned out to be! It turns out the alien ship was new advanced Caatati vessels who wanted to seize Voyager's warp core, antimatter and entire supply of galacite. An instant battle between the Caatati and Voyager got underway. The battle took place for almost twenty minutes non-stop, leaving Voyager dead in the water. If their old friends the Davraxians hadn't have shown up, it's more than likely that Voyager would have been destroyed.

Unsurprisingly, the incident had left Captain Janeway feeling extremely vulnerable and upset. Not only was her ship in pieces, she'd lost thirteen crew members, her headaches were starting to come back and worse of all...she was pregnant.

Just before they left, the Davraxians sent over some of their supplies in order to help them with their repairs which Torres started immediately. When the Captain got to her ready room, she immediately broke down. The day had been slightly too much for her to handle.

After the assignments where handed out, Chakotay headed over to her ready room. When he got no response to his request to enter, he used his code to open the door. He found her in pieces on the sofa, which to be honest, he had expected.

"Oh, Kathryn." he cried, going over to sit down next to her.

He pulled her into him in attempt to calm her down. After the day's awful turn of events, at least the Captain had found some comfort when she was in his arms. That was the only place at that moment in time where she felt safe.


	5. Father DNA

Chapter 5

He found the silence of the room refreshing. At least, for the moment, she was at peace. She'd had one hell of a shock to her system so it was good that she was finally able to get some rest.

As Chakotay sat there, still cradling her, he tried to imagine who would even have the nerve to try to hurt the Captain, let alone do it. He had always hated it when she was upset and when she had cried earlier that day, his heart had broken into a million pieces. She always showed her strong side to the crew, but the truth was she was just as emotional as everybody else… she was human.

The fact that her ship was in pieces probably wasn't helping either. Chakotay couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Not many Starfleet Captain's could deal with leading to crew home through an unknown, and potentially hostile part of space but she'd always done her best… the baby was the last thing she needed to have to worry about.

Chakotay felt her starting to stir. Part of him wished she had slept a little longer but he couldn't stop her from waking up.

"Hey." he said when her eyes opened, "Are you feeling any better?"

Stupid question really, of course she wasn't… but what else can you say in a situation like this?

"Not really." she muttered as she sat up and rubbed her eyes, "How long was I asleep?"

"About twenty minutes." he replied.

She rubbed her eyes and sighed. It had felt a little longer than that.

"Doctor to Janeway."

She sighed before replying.

"Yes Doctor?" she asked

"I'd like to see you in Sick Bay." he replied.

"On my way." she informed him, "Chakotay?"

=/\=

It turns out that Kathryn was in for a bigger shock. The Doctor informed her that, believe it or not, she was already six months pregnant! To say that she fainted is putting it mildly. One minute she was standing by biobed one, the next thing she knew she was on it… half an hour later.

The Doctor also told her that the DNA of her baby was fully human. This infuriated Chakotay because that told him it was a member of the crew who had violated her. Unfortunately, the unusual energy field was still inhibiting the Doctor's scans so the DNA couldn't identify the father... yet!

"Six months?" questioned the Captain when she finally managed to comprehend the latest blow.

"Yes Captain, but…"

"But what?" cried the Commander.

He couldn't possible imagine what else was wrong!

"But physically," the Doctor continued, "The foetus is only about three months old."

"What?" both the Captain and Commander cried in unison.

The Doctor shrugged his shoulders. He seriously couldn't explain the scans he was reading.

"I can't tell you anymore than that Captain." he told her, "And I don't know how long your gestation period is going to be."

The Captain just sat there thinking. If the baby was human how was any of this possible?

"Doctor, how long will it be until you can analyse the baby's DNA?" asked Chakotay.

"Maybe a week or two," he replied, "Unless the energy dissipates."

"Will it dissipate?" asked the Captain who tears were already starting to fall again.

"I don't know, Captain." replied the Doctor.

The Captain bit her lip. This was just too much to be able to take in at once.

=/\=

Kathryn sat in the bath trying to ignore all the information she'd received earlier that day, yet no matter how much she tried, it wasn't working. Her mind was desperately searching for answers… Where was she six months ago?

"Computer, what happened to me and the ship six months ago?" she asked.

"Voyager helped retrieve Kes from an alien planet, Supernova's were discovered in Spatial Grid 39, Q appeared on Voyager, Kathryn Janeway left the ship, Supernova's discontinued in Spatial Grid 39, the ship was invaded by a 'macrovirus', severe damage was suffered in Holodeck 2…"

"Stop!" ordered Janeway, "Was there anytime I was alone onboard with another male other that Commander Chakotay, Tuvok, Tom Paris or Ensign Kim?"

"Please restate the question." replied the computer.

"Oh, forget it!" she cried before getting out of the bath.

After she was dry she headed to bed. She couldn't wait to get the day over with. The ship's repairs were coming along nicely and she hoped that she would feel slightly better after a good night sleep. A long shot, she uderstood that, but she had to try.

=/\=

A week crawled by and the entire crew had noticed a change in the Captain. She never came out of her ready room while on duty and she always seemed upset, distant and moody, Of course she had her reasons and only Chakotay and the Doctor knew what they were. The entire Bridge crew were getting worried, even Tuvok in his own way. For all they knew, she was dying from a fatal disease.

"Sick Bay to Captain Janeway." came the Doctor's voice over the com system, "I've found something Captain… and you're not going to like it."

Those words made the Captain very uneasy; then again, she couldn't see how it could be any worse that it already was.

"Janeway to Chakotay, please report to the ready room."

As asked, he left Tuvok in charge of the Bridge and joined her.

"Kathryn?" he asked once he had entered.

She bit her lip. This made him understand what was happening.

"Shall we?" he asked.

She nodded and made her way to Sick Bay with the Commander at her side.

"Yes Doctor?" she asked as she entered the Bay, "What have you found?"

"The answers." he told her, leading them both into his office.

He pressed a button on the console which displayed a normal strand of human DNA on the monitor.

"This is your DNA in your baby's DNA," he told her.

He then displayed another DNA molecule.

"And this is the father's DNA." he continued.

Her eyes widened at the sight of it. No DNA strand in human history had ever looked like what she was looking at. There was no helix of any kind, double or otherwise. When she examined it closer, it looked more like the molecular structure of a giant covalent molecule like a diamond or graphite.

The Doctor then tapped the console which made the foreign DNA molecule start to move and glow. This made the Captain and Commander frown at the image even more.

"As you can see it's in a state of flux." The Doctor continued.

"I don't understand Doctor." Chakotay said while Kathryn remained fixed on the image, desperately trying to work it out.

"I've looked over all referenced on board which could explain this phenomenon." he told them.

"Just get to the point Doctor!" exclaimed the Captain.

The Doctor sighed before looking directly at the Captain.

"Very well." he said, "This DNA belongs to… Q."


	6. Q Vs Chuckles

Chapter 6

"Q?" asked Kathryn.

"Q?" screamed Chakotay.

"Yes, Q." confirmed the Doctor.

"H-How…" stuttered the Captain.

The Doctor didn't know what to say. For the first time ever he actually was speechless.

Chakotay, however, was desperately trying to control the anger he was feeling towards a certain omnipotent being.

"H-How did he manage it?" she asked.

"Were you ever alone with him?" asked the Doctor.

"Yes…" she answered, "But he never had a chance to do anything like that..."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes of course I'm sure!" snapped the Captain.

Chakotay thought about it.

"You were in the Continuum with him for a few days." Chakotay reminded her, "Did he have a chance to do anything then?"

She shook her head and bit her lip.

"I don't think so…"

=/\=

The Captain couldn't take it in. Of all people, why did Q have to be the father of her baby?

She knew she would have to tell the crew soon but she didn't know how too. Even though her gestation seemed to be double the normal of human offspring so she had longer before she started showing, she knew that the time would fly by.

It took a lot of courage, and a lot of conversations with Chakotay, before she finally decided to go back on the Bridge. Chakotay told her that the Bridge crew were getting concerned and even through she felt awful, she knew the crew needed her.

As she stepped into the turbo lift that morning, her anxiety levels hit breaking point. She was self conscious that her stomach would be noticeable to everyone she saw yet she'd hardly put any weight on at all. Then again, she was only physically three and a half months pregnant.

As she stepped out onto the Bridge, the entire crew rose to attention.

"Captain on the Bridge." called Tuvok.

She smiled as they all looked at her, quite happy to see she was finally back with them on the Bridge.

"As you were." she said as she made her way down to her chair.

Chakotay, being the gentleman as he was, came over to her and gave her a red English rose, one of her personal favourites. The rose brought a tear to her eye. Most people would have easily given up on her considering she was pregnant, but not Chakotay. He was definately one in a million.

She sat down as everyone resumed their previous tasks. After a moment she looked over at Chakotay and whispered:

"What have you told them?"

"You weren't feeling very well." he replied, "Which, technically speaking is the truth."

She smiled at him.

"Thanks."

The Bridge was fairly quiet that day. The repairs were all complete and Voyager was in good health.

About an hour later, Harry picked up something on sensors.

"Captain, the anomaly we detected a few days ago has appeared on sensors again." he reported.

"What do you mean 'appeared'?" she asked.

"Well, it disappeared a few days ago so we thought it had dissipated," he told her, "but it's just appeared again."

"Does it pose a threat to the ship?" she asked.

"No ma'am." he replied.

"Then continue course Mr. Paris." ordered Janeway.

"Aye, Captain." Paris replied.

As Kathryn sat there, a nagging pain started spreading across her abdomen. The Doctor told her this may happen but his words of warning hadn't informed how uncomfortable it would be.

"You have the Bridge Commander." she said, "I'll be in my ready room."

Chakotay frowned as she got up to leave but when she saw her rubbing the side of her still flat stomach, he understood.

"Aye, Captain."

=/\=

The pain didn't take long to subside but her headaches had decided to pay her another visit. She slowly stood up and went to look out of the window of her ready room. She picked up a cup of tea off her coffee table and started to drink it. It didn't satisfy her like coffee did but for the next thirteen months it was forbidden.

The idea of being pregnant for another eleven months made her want to scream! The idea of being pregnant for nine months was bad enough but the Doctor had confirmed that her gestation was twice that of a normal human pregnancy.

She continued to gaze at the stars until a familiar voice appeared behind her.

"Hello Kathy!"

She spun around and stopped dead in her tracks. It was him… the one person in the entire universe she really didn't want to see. She desperately tried to move, but her legs were frozen with fear. Tears exploded from her eyes as he approached her.

"Get the hell away from me!" she cried as she came within a metre of her.

"Kathy, you're crying!" he said, "Come here!"

He put her arms around her in an attempt to comfort her but who knows what that might have led too…

She used all her strength to push him away and she backed up as far as possible until she hit the replicator.

"Stay away from me!" she cried.

He was startled at the fact she'd pushed him to the floor.

"Kathy?" he asked, "What's gotten into you?"

"Security to the ready room!" she ordered.

Tuvok, who heard the Captain's cry, grabbed a phaser and proceeded to the ready room, followed by another security officer and, of course, Chakotay.

As he entered along with security, Chakotay saw the one man in the entire universe he didn't want to see... Q!

Tuvok was unsure what to do in this situation. He knew for a fact phaser fire wouldn't stop him yet he couldn't leave the Captain how she was, crying uncontrollably. He couldn'tt understand why she was so frightened of him but by the look of Commander Chakotay, he believed that he knew.

"Q!" he screamed, "Get the hell away from her!"

He dove, physically, into action by pushing Q down onto the sofa and then guiding the Captain away from him.

Q was startled for the second time that day.

"Seriously?" he cried, "What have I done to deserve this?"

"You know exactly what you've done!" shouted the Commander who at the same time was comforting Kathryn who was extremely shaken up by Q being in the same room as her.

"No I don't!" he exclaimed.

"Q, I'm going to make this very simple for you." started the Commander, "Leave, or I'll physically kill you here and now!"

"I can't die." Q reminded him, "I'm immortal."

"Trust me, I'd find a way!" the Commander informed him.

Q was in utter disbelief.

"Seriously Chuckles, what have I done?"

The Commander was at his breaking point but he knew he'd rather comfort Kathryn than argue with the _idiot _who stood before him.

"Get off this ship!" he told him, "Now!"

Q gave up.

"Fine!" he screeched before snapping his fingers and leaving in a puff.

The Captain then collapsed in Chakotay's arms in heaps of tears.

"What did I do to deserve this?" she sobbed.

Tuvok approached the command team. Even though he had no emotion, he disliked seeing the Captain this upset…

Chakotay just continued to squat there cradling the Captain. He knew one thing was certain, the next time he saw Q, he was going to kill him!

He looked down at Kathryn again; her eyes were all puffy and red from crying. So much for trying to return to normal…


	7. Barbaric B'Elanna

Chapter 7

All senior staff were gathered in the briefing room. They hadn't a clue what the meeting was about, all they knew was that Captain Janeway wanted to see them at 1400 hours sharp…yet it was 1420 hours.

B'Elanna Torres, the Chief Engineer, inspected all the faces at the table to see if anyone had any idea what the meeting was about. Of course Chakotay and the Doctor knew but they didn't show it. Tuvok had a 'feeling' that it was something to do with Q, considering how the Captain reacted when he came aboard.

"Does anybody know what this meeting is about?" she questioned.

Harry shrugged his shoulders while B'Elanna continued to look around the table for a response.

"Anyone?" she asked again.

"No." replied Seven of Nine, in her almost monotone voice.

"I wasn't talking to you!" snapped B'Elanna.

Tom was taken aback by her outburst. He knew for a fact that B'Elanna didn't like Seven, but he'd never seen her snap at her before, especially in front of the all the senior staff.

"B'Elanna?" cried Tom.

"Don't 'B'Elanna' me!" she snapped, "She's a Borg drone!"

"That's enough, Lieutenant!" exclaimed Chakotay who was also shocked by her outburst.

"Oh, whatever!" she cried before leaning back in her chair.

Tom could see something wasn't right but he was also slightly angry that she'd said that about Seven.

After a moment when the other officers started to chatter amongst themselves, Tom turned to B'Elanna. She was definitely sulking at the fact she'd been told off by Chakotay.

"What the hell's gotten into you?" he questioned.

"Don't you dare lecture me!" she warned him, "I'm not five years old."

"I know." answered Tom, "Five year olds know when to keep their mouths shut!"

"Shut up!" she snapped before looked away, but not before giving him one of the evilest death stares he'd ever seen.

Suddenly, the Captain walked into the room, not looking too well and it was quickly noticed by Chakotay and the Doctor.

"Sorry I'm late." she said as she entered the room, "And don't!"

The warning was directed to the Commander who she knew would make a scene if her saw how bad she felt. The entire table, all except B'Elanna, had looked at the Commander when the warning was given. Tom raised an eyebrow at him and then smiled but the Commander's view stayed fixed on the Captain.

"Anyway," started the Captain, "let's get down to business."

The Captain was unsure exactly how to inform them but she had to go for it.

"Well, the thing is," she started, "I'm pregnant."

They were all shocked to say the least, but none of them minded… all except B'Elanna. She was smiling, but not because she was happy for the Captain.

"Slut." she muttered, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Lieutenant!" cried the Commander.

The Captain turned her head to look at the half Klingon crew member who she had never seen act like this before.

"I do beg your pardon?" said Kathryn.

B'Elanna stood up, faced the Captain and leaned in closer, smiling in was which could be describes as almost evil.

"You heard me." she said, lifting her head and looking down on the Captain.

The Captain was not at all amused, neither was Chakotay. To be honest, she was a little hurt by the comment but she didn't show it. As for Tom, he couldn't believe what was happening. That wasn't like B'Elanna. She'd always had respect for the Captain.

"Wait for me in my ready room." she ordered, "Now!"

B'Elanna sniggered before waltzing out of the room.

"Sorry, I don't obey slags!" she said before leaving.

It took everyone a moment to digest B'Elanna's unusual behaviour. She'd never disobayed the Captain's direct orders before and she had certainly never made a scene like that before. After a moment the Captain continued with the meeting when she told them everything about her pregnancy… and Q. Needless to say they were all stunned.

=/\=

Later that day as Kathryn sat in her ready room, she couldn't get B'Elanna's unusual behaviour off her mind. She had never seen her like that before and it had upset her a little, but something more was definitely going on, and she intended to find out what it was.

"Bridge to Captain Janeway."

"Yes Doctor?" she asked.

"Captain, Lt. Torres is down here." he told her, "Can you come down here please?"

The Captain agreed and made her way down. She didn't know exactly what to expect but she hoped it wasn't to serious, whatever the problem was.

"Report!" she ordered as she entered Sick Bay.

She walked up to the Doctor and Tom who were standing around the surgical bay where B'Elanna's lifeless body lay. Tom looked extremely worried and this worried the Captain immensely.

"Ensign Wildman found her collapsed outside of Engineering." the Doctor told her, "I couldn't find anything wrong until I ran a neurological scan."

Now the Captain was worried. There was a problem, and for all she knew at that moment in time, it could have been serious.

"What did you find?" she asked.

"There's an unusual signal emanating from her parietal lobe." he informed her, "It matches the energy field emanating from your baby."

This worried the Captain even more.

"You mean the baby's affecting B'Elanna?" she asked.

"No Captain," he started, "Q is."

The Captain's hatred for Q started growing rapidly. Not only had he impregnated her against her will, he'd also started to hurt one of her crew members who was also one of her closest friends. She looked at the Doctor. She could tell by the expression on his face that he hadn't told her all of it yet.

"What else?" she questioned.

"It's started causing brain damage."

The Captain started clenching her fist, imagining that she was strangling Q's neck. How could he do something like this?

"Well, maybe now you'll tell me what's wrong." his familiar voice said after a bright light flashed behind them.

Tom, who was standing opposite to the Captain and Doctor, looked up and scowled at the omnipotent being standing only metres behind them.

The Captain turned swiftly around. Seeing his face again made her legs turn to jelly but she had to be strong, not just for her sake but for B'Elanna's too.

"Make her better!" the Captain ordered.

"Not until you tell me what I've done." he insisted.

"Make her better!" she repeated.

"Kathy…"

"Make her better!" screamed the Captain.

Q looked into the Captain's eyes, attempting to break her icy cold exterior shell.

"You're not going to win this one Q!" she told him, "Now make her better!"

Q sighed. She was right; this wasn't the best way to get Kathy to answer him. He snapped his fingers and disappeared. Seconds later B'Elanna's eyes shot open and her breathing increased rapidly. The Doctor made his way over to her and scanned her. A nod from his head let the Captain and Tom know she was alright.

B'Elanna took a moment to catch her breath before turning and looking up at the Captain.

"Captain," she whispered, "I'm so sorry."

The Captain smiled.

"Its okay." she told her

"I didn't mean it." she said, "I didn't mean any of it!"

"Its okay." insisted the Captain.

B'Elanna nodded and wiped a tear from her eye. She'd always deeply respected the Captain and she hated the fact she had said all those things. Yes, she knew she hadn't been directly responsible but she knew she had said it and that hurt her.

The Captain placed her hand on B'Elanna's shoulder and smiled. She couldn't describe the relief she had felt when she knew B'Elanna was going to be okay.

"Oh, Captain," B'Elanna said after a moment, "Congratulations."


	8. USS Petri Dish

Chapter 8

It had been a month since the Captain's last encounter with Q. Part of her wanted to kill him for what he did for B'Elanna yet another part of her was still petrified of him… and that part of her had grown considerably since their last encounter. She was now eight months pregnant, which was the equivalent of being four months pregnant. She wasn't showing yet but her uniform had started to get a little tighter over the previous week or two.

The ship itself was doing okay but Kathryn herself didn't feel that good. Her headaches were as bad as ever and she felt very tense and moody. If didn't even feel like her skull was melting anymore. She couldn't put into words how it felt; all she knew is that it felt ten times worse than before.

"Good morning Kathryn." said Chakotay as he jollily strolled into her ready room.

She took another sip of her coffee and continued to read the 23-page security report off Tuvok.

"What's so good about it?" she questioned.

Chakotay was about to reply but the smell of extremely strong coffee filled his nose.

"Kathryn!" he exclaimed, "You know you shouldn't be drinking this."

He picked up her half full mug and went straight to the replicator to recycle it before she even had a chance to argue.

"One cup isn't going to kill me!" she protested.

"Yeah," he agreed, "But how many have you had?"

He knew by the way she couldn't look him directly in the eye that it she had had a lot more than one.

"I rest my case." he told her.

She rolled her eyes and continued attempting to read the exceedingly dull report which sat before her. After a moment, she slammed it down and rubbed her head. The pain was starting to become extremely uncomfortable.

"Still having headaches?" he asked.

She nodded and sighed.

"They're killers." she told him, "No matter what the Doctor gives me they just don't go away."

He smiled weakly.

"You'll be alright." he informed her.

She smiled and looked up at him.

"Are you free for dinner tonight?" she asked.

"Is that an invitation?" he questioned.

"It might be." she replied.

"Okay, but on one condition." he told her, "I cook dinner."

Her smile grew at that. It wasn't that she couldn't cook; it was the fact that her replicator had a mind of its own. The fact that Chakotay liked to cook also aided in her ability to agree with his 'condition'.

"Deal." she agreed.

=/\=

The Captain couldn't believe what was happening; some sort of ship wide epidemic was wreaking havoc all over the ship. Genetic mutations were propping up all over the place and she could help but wonder if the pulsars they were studying had something to do with it… or worse, Q!

She was in Sickbay were all biobeds were taken up by crew members with severe problems. Other patients, like Chakotay and Neelix, were in their quarters under strict quarantine rules. Then there was the Doctor. He and B'Elanna had been researching the mutations when both of them were suddenly incapacitated… surely that couldn't be a coincidence. Something more sinister was defiantly going on.

"What happened to B'Elanna?" she asked Tom who was the ships temporary Doctor.

"The alveoli in her lungs suddenly stopped processing oxygen." he informed her, "I've got her on respiratory support."

Harry and Seven also joined Tom and the Captain around B'Elanna in the surgical bay.

"She almost died." Tom continued.

She then asked Harry what had happened to the Doctor. It turns out that something happened to him when he tried to transfer back to Sick Bay. He was gone. She'd ordered Seven to go back to the Science lab to try and repair the scanner. They needed to discover what was going on, and fast!

=/\=

Aliens! She should have known really, yet she couldn't believe they were experimenting with her crew, like Voyager was one big Petri dish. This also explained her headaches. The 'needles driving into her skull' were real and they were pumping up her dopamine levels to push her to the edge… and it had worked. That also explained the unusual energy field being emitted by her baby. It was defending itself from these vile experiments, poor little thing.

Anyway they were gone now… after she'd almost destroyed the ship that is. She flew it directly between the two pulsars to intimidate them into leaving but she'd taken it a little too far. She'd been 'reckless' according to Tuvok, but they were still alive and the aliens were gone so at least it had brought some good. Sadly, she had lost two crew members but the rest were all healthy now the Doctor had been able to remove the tags. Even her headaches were gone, which was a relief to say the least. The energy field around the baby had also dissipated completely so the Doctor was able to get a good proper scan for the first time in eight months. That had made her day.

As she entered the Mess Hall that evening, she saw Sam Wildman sitting at a table trying to get Naomi to eat her dinner… a hard task in itself. Naomi was quite similar to her baby in some sort of respect. Her gestation period had also been eighteen months. Kathryn did hope that her baby wouldn't grow as much as Naomi did though. She was only two years old yet she was the equivalent of a human four year old, but she was still a very intelligent and polite little girl.

"Ensign?" she asked as she approached her table.

"Captain!" she exclaimed before attempting to stand up.

"As you were Ensign." she said before she had the chance, "May I join you?"

"Of course." she replied gesturing to the empty chair opposite to her.

The Captain sat down and smiled at Naomi.

"Hello Naomi." she said.

"Hello Captain." she replied very politely.

Sam smiled. At least after all that had happened over the last few weeks, Naomi still had her manners.

"Are you okay Captain?" Sam asked after a moment.

Kathryn sighed and smiled.

"Yeah I'm good now." she said, referring to the crisis which had just ended, "And yourself?"

"I'm good thanks."

She smiled and looked over at Naomi who was casually playing with her toy monkey.

"Samantha, can I you a personal question?" she asked.

"Of course Captain."

"How," she started, "How did you deal with being pregnant for a year and a half?"

The question did confuse her a bit. Kathryn hadn't actually informed the entire crew about her 'physical condition' yet and she realised she may have just let it slip to Sam but after the day she'd had, she really didn't care.

"Well, erm…" she said, "I didn't really know for almost for at least half of it so it didn't really bother me that much. Why do you ask, Captain?"

Kathryn rubbed her head.

"Curiosity more than anything," she replied, "And the fact that I'm going through it too..."

"I'm sorry?" she asked, generally shocked by the Captain's response.

The Captain sighed.

"Q… found a way to 'mate' with my without my knowledge." she answered, "And now I'm going through a pregnancy that's double a normal human gestation, so I was curious how you put with it."

Samantha found it highly unusual that the Captain had actually come to her for advice, and she was quite taken aback by the fact she'd just found out the Captain was actually pregnant.

"Well, I actually found it a blessing." Sam told her.

"A blessing?" asked Kathryn.

"Yes." she replied, "It gave me a longer time to prepare for Naomi, and it meant that my body didn't change as quickly so I had a chance to get use to the changes."

The Captain smiled in agreement.

"I'd never thought of it like that." she said, "Thank you Ensign."

"You're welcome Captain," she said, "And, congratulations Captain."

Janeway smiled. "Thank you En…"

The Captain stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Naomi's eyes roll back into her head. Sam turned when the Captain stopped and saw her daughter violently starting to fit.

"Janeway to Sick Bay, Medical Emergency!" she cried.


	9. Anomaly & Emergency

Chapter 9

It had been over thirty minutes since Naomi was beamed to Sick Bay. The Doctor had stopped her fitting almost straight away but as for why she was fitting, he didn't know. The Captain had accompanied Sam to Sick Bay and had stayed with her for the entire thirty minutes. Seeing Naomi in a comatose state in the Surgical Bay was heartbreaking to Kathryn so she couldn't even imagine how Sam must have felt.

The Doctor was at a dead end. He'd been studying Naomi's scans desperately trying to understand her condition. Kathryn could tell by the look on his face that it wasn't good news. Sam looked up as he approached them. Her face was tear-stained and she felt sick to her stomach with worry.

"Doctor?" asked Sam.

"I'm sorry Ensign." he told her, "I don't know what else I can do for her."

Tears started flowing down her face once again. The only time he'd ever seen her that upset before was when Naomi originally died after she was born.

"Doctor what's wrong with her?" asked Kathryn.

He sighed and looked down at the frail little girl who lay before him.

"Her cells are breaking down at the molecular level." he informed her, "But I can't find anything which is causing it to happen."

The Captain covered her mouth in attempt to cover up the fact that she was biting her lip. In all her years in Starfleet, she'd never heard anything like it. Yes, she had heard of cellular degradation but there was always a cause…always.

"Bridge to Janeway." hailed Chakotay, "Please report to the Bridge."

"On my way." she replied, "Keep me informed Doctor."

"Aye Captain." he said.

Janeway was glad in a way to be able to leave Sick Bay. Her pregnancy hadn't been too bad so far but her emotions had been up and down like a yo-yo. The amount of times she had wanted to cry in Sick Bay was ridiculous but for Sam's sake she tried not to.

As she continued to make her way to the Bridge she tried to shield her mind from the images of Naomi which were flooding her mind. As she approached the turbolift, she pressed the button in order to open the door.

"Going up?" questioned Q as he suddenly appeared out of nowhere and popped his head out the door.

"I don't think so!" she exclaimed before pressing it again to close it in his face. It wasn't as effective as slamming a door in his face but living in the 24th Century had to come with a price.

She turned away from the lift and started walking towards the next one. Q… what the hell was he up to now?

A flash of light to her left came not long after, just as she had expected.

"You can't get away from me that easily!" he told her.

"Shame." she said not making eye contact with the man who made her feel weak to her knees.

"Seriously Kathy, what's up with you lately?" he asked.

The Captain stopped dead in her tracks. She couldn't believe his nerve! It was actually quite laughable.

"You know," she started, "I should have known really."

"I'm sorry?" he asked.

"Naomi…" she said, "The two year old _dying _in Sick Bay… She has a disorder that has no physical cause but of course, you already know about that, don't you?"

"Kathy, I haven't a clue what you're talking about!" he reassured her.

The Captain couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Get off my ship!"

"Kathy…"

"Don't you 'Kathy' me! I've put up with you for long enough!" she told him, "I've tolerated you…but this, this is a new low!"

"Kathy…" he said, reaching out to touch her arms.

She tensed up and looked directly into his eye. Even though she was angry, looking directly in his eye still scared the hell out of her.

"Let go of me!" she demanded, "NOW!"

"Kathy…" he repeated.

She pulled away from his grip and looked at him.

"Don't touch me!" she shouted.

Random crew members who were passing had turned to see their 'little debate' but the Captain hadn't noticed. She just wanted the omnipotent being in front of her to disappear… once he'd made Naomi better, that is.

"Kathy, what have I done?" he asked.

"Just go back to where you came from!" she demanded before walking past him and heading towards the Bridge.

Q thought about it but he couldn't leave yet so instead he decided to follow her. The Captain refused to speak with him after that so they both continued to the Bridge in complete silence.

=/\=

The Commander noticed that the Captain didn't enter the Bridge alone… and he especially didn't like who was following her!

"Captain?" he asked.

She looked extremely angry but she seemed to be ignoring the _person_ who was following her like a lost puppy. The only difference was that Chakotay actually didn't hate lost puppies.

When the senior officers noticed Q, they too were put on edge. He'd taken advantage of their Captain, and in Tom's case, he'd almost killed the woman he loved. He wasn't going to forget that!

"Report, Commander." ordered the Captain.

"Yeah." said Q, "Report Chuckles."

The Captain gave him one of her 'death stares' as he went to sit in her chair.

"The anomaly that Ensign Kim discovered a few weeks had appeared on sensors… again."

"The same one?" she questioned.

"It seems to be… following us." reported Kim, "It appeared on sensors about an hour ago and it's been following our subspace field ever since, almost like it's on an intercept course."

The Captain sighed and turned back to Q who was sprawled out on her chair playing with his thumbs. She couldn't help but wonder if this 'anomaly' had something to do with him.

"Go to Yellow Alert." she ordered before heading over to her chair, "Move it!"

Q rolled his eyes and stood up to allow her to sit down. Chakotay look at him. He was desperately trying not to let his anger get the best of him. Not yet at least.

=/\=

The atmosphere on the Bridge was thick enough to cut with a knife. The Captain and Commander were on edge at the fact that Q was still hovering like a bad smell. Tom Paris was also ready to kill Q at a moment's notice, while the other officers on the Bridge were afraid to even breathe loudly. The Captain had also received another report off the Doctor about Naomi. Her condition was slowly deteriorating and the Doctor had had to put her into a coma in order to prolong the deterioration. Kathryn couldn't help but feel for Ensign Wildman. Her daughter was dying... Q was also onboard and still pretended not to have a clue about her, which made Kathryn feel physically sick! She knew Q wasn't always a decent being but this was a new low, even for him.

After a few more minutes, Harry console started screaming. This made everyone, even Q, turn to look at him.

"Captain, the anomaly had just appeared 20,000 kilometres off the starboard bow!" he informed her.

"Red Alert!" she ordered as she and the Commander both stood up, "On screen."

As the image appeared on the screen, everyone – accept Q - suddenly looked away as a bright light blinded them. Q, who could see the object, just stood there and, for the first time in years, generally felt his body flood with fear.

"Oh my God!" he cried.

Harry quickly ended the viewscreen. It took several seconds for everyone's eyes to return to normal. Suddenly, the ship started shaking violently as it was hit by something.

"Captain, the anomaly is discharging some type of energy…" Harry informed her, "It's disrupting every system on board!"

The Captain looked at Q. Even he looked scared about whatever the hell this thing was. She was about to ask him but the ship suddenly fell off course into a rapid free fall. Everyone onboard was violently pushed to the floor by the extreme forces.

"Mr. Paris!" cried Janeway as she tried to push against the forces and pull herself up in aid of the rail.

He clambered up to the console in attempt to see what was happening to the ship.

"Inertial dampers are offline." he reported.

"Reset the baseline at 3-0-0 and re-initialize!" she ordered.

"Field processers coming back online." he informed her as the free fall started to stabilize, "Inertial damping restored."

The crew clambered back to their feet when the ship fully stabilized.

"All stop." ordered Kathryn, "Damage report."

"6 minor injuries reported, Captain." Tuvok told her.

"All systems coming back online." reported Harry.

Janeway look over at Q. She could have been wrong, but she would have sworn he had a cut on his forehead.

"Q?" she asked.

He looked at her before his eyes rolled back and he fell to the floor with a large thud. Chakotay frowned but couldn't help but laugh a little at how bizarre the situation was.

"Did he just faint?" he questioned.

Harry went over to Q and checked his eyes for a response.

"He's out cold." he reported.

"Is he dead?" questioned Chakotay.

"No." answered Harry.

"Shame." shrugged Chakotay before sitting in his chair and reading the console between his and the Captain's seat.

The Captain looked at Q. He was bleeding and no matter how much part of her liked the fact that he was the one suffering for once, she knew she had an obligation to fulfil.

"This goes against my better judgement." she stated, "Sick Bay, Medical Emergency!"


	10. Stuck Onboard

Chapter 10

"Oh come on!" cried Chakotay, "He's obviously faking it!"

"I don't think he is, Commander." replied Harry, who was still kneeling by Q's side.

"Yeah right!" the Commander scoffed before looking at the Captain, "Do you actually believe he's injured?"

"I don't know." she replied, "But I have to admit, I've never heard him this quiet before."

The Doctor stepped out of the turbolift moments later. The frown that followed when he saw Q sprawled out of the deck was a picture Kathryn guaranteed herself she would never forget.

"Captain?" he questioned.

"Don't look at me Doctor." she said, "I don't have a clue what's going on here."

"How am I supposed to treat him?" he asked, "He's a Q."

The Captain sighed and rubbed her head. This situation seemed to be rapidly spiralling out of control.

"Leave him." suggested Chakotay, "He'll get bored eventually and give up this ridiculous charade."

The Doctor looked at Q who was still in a heap on the floor. He hadn't a clue how to proceed but out of instinct he pulled out his medical tricorder and began to scan him. He raised his eyebrows at the shock of the reading that were appearing before him.

"I don't believe this…" he said.

"Believe what?" questioned the Captain.

"According to these scans," he continued, "He's human!"

The Captain looked at him in complete shock. That wasn't possible… was it?

"Don't be ridiculous!" exclaimed Chakotay, "He'd obviously manipulating us somehow."

Tuvok pulled out his tricorder from under his console and began to scan Q's tranquil body.

"He is registering as fully human." he reported.

Chakotay rolled his eyes.

"Let me see!" he demanded as he walked over to Tuvok at the tactical station.

The Captain saw him raise his eyebrows when he read the tricorder in Tuvok's hand.

"If I didn't see it I wouldn't have believed it." she admitted, "He is registering as human, Captain."

"How is that possible?" she asked.

"I don't know." interrupted the Doctor, "But if he's really human, I need to get him to Sick Bay to treat this head wound."

=/\=

The Captain and Commander had joined the Doctor and Q's still lifeless body is Sick Bay. Miraculously, the Doctor had actually managed to heal the cut on his forehead and some internal damage caused by an unknown radiation, probably caused by the anomaly. The Captain was completely baffled by the entire situation. How could an omnipotent, immortal being like Q be injured? Also, how could he be registering as human?

"I've repaired most of the damage." reported the Doctor.

Chakotay scoffed. "_Damage_ my…"

"Doctor," interrupted Kathryn, "If he's registering as human, can you wake him?"

The Doctor considered it. "I don't see why not."

He grabbed a hypospray off the counter and pressed it against his neck. Q eyes shot open seconds later and he sat up as quick as lightening.

"Kathy," he said, "What am I doing here?"

He examined the environment he was sitting in.

"In this especially crude environment." he continued

Chakotay rolled his eyes, but then something suddenly occurred to him... Q was human! Did that mean karma was real? Had it given him the chance to kill him for hurting Kathryn?

Kathryn gulped. No matter how much she tried, she was still terrified of Q. She instinctively rubbed the top of her abdomen. Chakotay noticed her fear and put his hand on her back, mostly for moral support.

Q felt a surge of some sort of emotion flow throughout his body. Jealously... yes, it was definitely the primative humanoid emotion known as jealously. Why was he so jealous of Chuckles? He had everything possible. He had omnipotence, immortality, knowledge… but there was one think he didn't have, one thing that Chakotay did have: Kathryn. He tried to brush the feeling aside but he found it extremely hard to. He snapped his fingers and expected to materialise on Gordanious Prime, a planet a million in a completely different galaxy. He didn't. In fact, he stayed in only point in the entire galaxy where he didn't want to be, opposite to Chakotay and Kathryn in Sick Bay on Voyager.

"What the…" he frowned, "My powers…"

The Captain and Chakotay frowned at Q's uncertainly.

"My powers are gone!" he cried.

Chakotay was slightly amused at the fact Q was mortal although there was one problem with the situation. He was stuck on Voyager!

=/\=

"Report!" cried Chakotay.

"The anomaly's appeared 20,000 kilometres off the port bow!" informed Kim as pieces of debris fell over his console.

It had been the fifth attack that day. Whatever the hell this anomaly was, it definitely wanted Voyager destroyed… or at least something on it.

"Photon torpedoes!" Chakotay ordered, "Full spread!"

Tuvok responded in seconds and fired at the anomaly. The consoles on the Bridge started to relax and the panic in Kim's voice die down.

"It's dissipating." he reported.

Chakotay sighed and cancelled Red Alert.

"Damage report." he demanded.

"The main hull had buckled on Decks 5 through 9, repair crews are responding." Tuvok informed him, "The shield grid has also suffered massive damage."

"I'll inform the Captain." said Chakotay leaving Tuvok in command.

He swiftly made his was over to the ready room. He entered at Kathryn's call and saw her reading a PADD.

"Hello Chakotay." she said without looking up.

He raised his eyebrow. "Am I that predictable?"

"Yes." she replied bluntly.

"Well," he continued, "This is the latest damage report."

She put the PADD down on her desk before looking up at him and sighing. Voyager had already suffered massive damage before the last attack and she was slightly afraid to read the next report.

"You know," she said after quickly skimming through the report, "All this started as soon a Q came aboard."

Chakotay raised his eyebrows and bit his lip in agreement.

"I am here, you know?" Q chirped up from the corner of the room.

"Sadly yes." replied the Commander.

"Seriously!" he cried, "I've lost my powers! Don't I even get a hint of sympathy?"

Chakotay scowled at him. "No."

Q rolled his eyes at Chakotay and then looked at the Captain. He felt a surge of guilt run through his newly human veins. He could tell by how she was rubbing her head that she was strugging to handle all the attacks. He couldn't do anything about it considering he was mortal but he did feel sorry for her. Maybe being human was making him start to access all of the emotions he desperately tried to ignore when he was parading around the universe.

"I'm sorry." he said after a moment.

Kathryn looked up at him. "What for?" she questioned.

"The alien." he started, "He wouldn't be attacking you if…"

"What alien?" interrupted the Commander.

"The 'anomaly' that's attacking the ship." he replied, "It's a non corporeal alien from a race called the Perpetuani."

"The Perpetuani?" asked the Captain.

"They're the mortal enemy of the Q." he informed them.

"So if we give you to this alien," said Chakotay, "Will he leave us alone?"

"Oh, very considerate Chuckles!" he cried.

"This Perpetuani alien," interrupted the Captain, "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing… much." said Q.

Q sighed before continuing with his story.

"They can't reach us in the Continuum so some of them attempt to hunt us when we roam the universe. Usually we evade them, but sometimes they're too strong." he told them.

"Like earlier?" asked the Commander, enjoying the fact Q was actually admitting to being weak for once.

"Give it a rest Chuckles!" he cried, "Anyway, when they manage get to us they drain our powers and make us mortal."

Kathryn couldn't take it in. An alien race more powerful, and dangerous, than the Q… how was that even possible?

"And what happens then?" she asked.

"And then they attempt to destroy us…" he trailed off.

That was the answer Kathryn was hoping not to hear.

"You're right Q." came an unfamiliar, sinister voice from behind them, "And I'll destroy you, one way or another!"


	11. Black Hole Blockade

Chapter 11

Kathryn, Chakotay and Q spun around to see an alien figure standing behind them. He was humanoid in form yet his features were indistinguishable and his body was glowing brightly. It took a moment for the Captain and Commander's eyes to adjust to the light but when they did, they saw the alien scowled at Q. He then raised his hand towards him and a ball of energy built up in his palm. Q saw this and looked over at Kathryn. Chakotay had put his arm around her ready to pull her away at a moment's notice. They knew this wasn't going to be pretty...

"No!" Q cried before he fled the room.

"Fool!" exclaimed the alien before transforming into a ball of swirling gasses.

The energy mass then quickly headed for the bulkhead in pursuit of the less than valiant omnipotent being.

"Intruder Alert!" said Chakotay which set off the alert klaxons all over the ship.

The Captain sighed. The day had just gone from bad to worse.

=/\=

About ten minutes later, Kathryn was hailed by a young Ensign.

"Security to Captain." he said, "We've just found Q on Deck 3. He appears to be injured."

The Captain rolled her eyes as she tapped her com badge.

"Transporter Room 3, beam Q back to Sick Bay." she ordered.

The Captain and Commander quickly headed down to Sick Bay just in time to see Q's lifeless body materialised on biobed one. The Doctor was straight into action while Janeway directed her attention over to the Surgical Bay. Samantha was still at the side of her two year old daughter. Her condition had been slowed by the Doctor when her had put her into a coma yet she was still getting worse. Her fever was dangerously high and her frail body was starting to get patches form all over her skin from the degradation.

Chakotay saw a single tear escape from Kathryn's eye as she gazed over at Naomi.

"Hey." he whispered as he pulled her into his arms.

She sighed in attempt to stop crying. She didn't want cry in front of Sam but she couldn't hold her tears back much longer.

"Can we go?" she asked Chakotay.

He smiled weakly and nodded.

=/\=

It had taken the Doctor less than twenty minutes to heal Q's injuries. He then went over to Naomi and her very concerned mother. He scanned the girl and saw exactly what he expected to see… no change. He then looked up at Sam. Her face was as pale as snow apart from the red puffiness of her eyes from where she'd been crying. He sighed and bit his holographic lip. He couldn't even begin to imagine how she felt. She hadn't slept or eaten for over ten hours and no matter how much he tried to get her to go and have a break, she refused to move. He'd even considered sedating her at one point, just to give her rest she was in desperate need of.

"Sam." he said placing his hand on her shoulder, "Please, go and get some rest, or at the very least a meal from the replicator in my office."

She looked around at him and nodded. She had to admit she was rather peckish. She strolled away to the replicator and ordered a fruit salad. If that couldn't cheer her up slightly, nothing would.

=/\=

The Captain had cried for a least an hour when she got back to her quarters. She had been feeling emotional all day but after seeing how bad Naomi had gotten, it had pushed her to the limit. Q was still in Sick Bay and the alien had disappeared… for now.

"Captain Janeway?"

The voice startled her and she darted up to see the Perpetuani alien standing at the bottom of her bed. He wasn't as bright as he was earlier that day and he didn't look as angry either.

"Who are you?" she asked.

He looked at her and attempted to smile but his skin didn't stretch far enough to allow him to do so.

"I am… Fred." he answered.

Now that was something Kathryn found almost laughable.

"Fred?" she asked with her eyebrows raised.

"No." he smiled (or at least attempted to again), "My read name is too complex for your brain to comprehend."

"What do you want from me?" she asked.

"Information." he replied, "Firstly, why is that _fihffo _doing on your ship?"

"I beg your pardon?" she inquired.

"What is _Q _doing on your ship?" he asked.

"I honestly don't know," she replied, "_Fred_."

"Is he your mate?" he questioned.

"No." the Captain said sharply.

"Then why do you carry his child?" he asked.

The Captain attempted to think of an appropriate response.

"Did he violate you?" asked 'Fred'.

The Captain gulped. She considered it. In a way he had… he'd impregnated her without her consent. That would be classed as a violation, would it not?

"In a manor of speaking." she replied, desperately trying not to allow her eyes to well up from the thought of it.

"Fihffo!" he swore to himself, "He always had a nerve that one."

The Captain saw what almost looked like tears well up in the alien's eyes. His fists clenched and he tried very hard not to loose control.

"What did he do to you?" she asked after a moment.

He turned to her. "Where do I begin…?"

"From the start." answered Janeway, hoping in a way that would calm down his anger.

"He…He destroyed my home world with in a little game he liked to call: Black Hole Blockade." he told her, "He put Black holes all around our system and watched to see which ones pulled the other planets in our system in. On our Armageddon, he taunted with my people and changed their molecular structures so they'd feel inside the black holes… 9.7 billion of my people were lost."

The Captain couldn't believe her ears. How could Q do something like that?

"They're all conscious inside those holes." he told her, "Can you imagine what their lives are like? Can you even call them 'lives'? They can feel the entire universe decompose all round them... All the stars, nebula's, anomalies…"

The Captain felt a genuine sympathy for their race. No living creature deserved to feel pain after their _deaths_. There was supposed to be a meaning to the phrase: Rest In Peace.

"I'm sorry Captain." he told her, "I should not have attacked your ship. I was after Q, not you."

"How many of you survived?" she asked, wiping away her tears.

"6…" he trailed off.

"6?" she asked in horror.

He nodded. Only six, out of a planet of over 9 billion!

"I will not rest until I have removed him from the universe." he told her.

"His death won't bring you your justice." she told him.

"Why not?" he asked her.

Honestly, because even though he was a pain, she hated the idea of anyone having to die.

"Let me confine him in our brig." she suggested in attempt to avoid the question, "I'll talk to him and convince him to free your people."

"How will you do that?" he questioned.

The Captain thought about a good response to the query.

"We have a… unique understanding." she told him, "Besides, he hates being mortal. That will allow me to get through to him."

"You'd do that for someone who almost destroyed your ship?" he asked.

"To save nine billion lives?" she questioned, "That's not a hard decision."

He thought about it and considered her proposal.

"You have one month." he told her, "If you do not succeed, I will destroy this ship."

"Wait a minute!" she cried, "Why destroy my ship?"

"If Q is here, I will destroy the ship!" he barked.

"You can't do that!" cried the Captain.

"I can." 'Fred' re-assured her, "And I will!

Then he disappeared leaving Janeway feeling very scared. She had one month to avoid destruction. Could it be done? She hoped so!

She pulled herself together after hearing the threat.

"Janeway to Chakotay." she called over the com.

"Yes, Captain?" Chakotay asked.

"Take a security team to Sick Bay." she ordered.

"Of course Captain, but what for?" he asked.

"Throw Q in the brig."

She couldn't imagine how big the smile on Chakotay's face must have been at that point.

"With pleasure, Captain!"


	12. Locked Up

Chapter 12

As Janeway strolled into the Brig that morning, she almost laughed at the fact that Q was continuously poking the force field in order to see how much it hurt him. He kept moaning when he touched it but he continued anyway. She rolled her eyes at his brainless act.

"I know you've been in a brig before." she said strolling over to the outside of his cell.

"Kathy!" he cried, "What am I doing here?"

She leaned back onto the console behind her and looked at him. A long silence existed between the two of them before she decided to speak up.

"I want to play a game Q." she told him, "And I need your help to play."

His eyes widen with excitement. A game! Well, it was better than sitting in the cell alone for another few hours.

"A game?" he asked.

"Yeah." she replied almost slyly, "A game."

He sat up on the edge of the chair and looked at her.

"Hypothetically," she started, "How would I go about playing a game called 'Black Hole Blockade'?"

His eyes widened and he swiftly looked away. "I've…never heard of it…"

"Really?" she questioned, "Well, let me tell you the rules. First, you choose a _habited _system to blockade with black holes and then you wait to see which hole swallows up each planet. 10 points for guessing which one eats an uninhabited planet and 50 points if the planet is habited… Sound familiar?"

He sighed still refusing to make eye contact. "You make me sound awful…"

"So, you admit you've playing it before?" she asked, sickened by the thought of it.

He nodded. He couldn't lie, could he?

"It's sick Q!" she cried, "But here's what you're going to do. You're going to release the people stuck in those holes and give them their planet back."

"Never!" cried Q, looking deep into her eyes.

"I'm sorry you won't be reasonable." she told him before heading towards the door.

"Kathy, wait!" he called.

She turned around and looked at him. His hand was extended out to her, dangerous close to the force field, wasn't it? Something wasn't right but she shrugged it off

"Why did you do it?" she asked.

He couldn't answer and turned away.

=/\=

Two weeks had gone by and Kathryn had had no luck with Q. She had two weeks left before 'Fred' would be back in order to destroy her ship, but for some reason that didn't bother her. She had a feeling that the problem with Q wasn't exactly what it appeared.

Chakotay had been an angel over the past few weeks. He knew whatever she had seen about Q was dominating her mind and he didn't try and pull her away from her work… no matter how much he wanted too. She had just hit the nine month marker in her pregnancy. He knew that she still had another nine months to go but she was starting to show. In a way that pleased him because it meant he could actually lecture to take herself easy and she'd have to listen.

"Kathryn?" he asked, popping his hear around the corner into her office, "Are you coming to eat now?"

She smiled and sighed. She'd been working for almost six hours trying to figure out her 'hunch' but she was still nowhere nearer to an answer. Maybe she was paranoid at the fact she was facing destruction. She looked up at Chakotay's face. He was worried about her and she could see it.

"Yeah," she sighed, "As long as you don't expect me to cook it."

He smiled and assisted her out the chair. Her smile grew when she caught sight of how the table was set.

"I can see why you were anxious." he told him as she examined the candelabra that decorated the table, "Bit old fashioned though."

She turned to see his almost laughing. "Exactly how you like it."

=/\=

The dinner couldn't have been any better. It was a shame Chakotay had to go on duty at 2100 hours, leaving all the tidying to Kathryn.

He must have planned it, she though to herself as she put all the leftovers back into the replicator. As it all dematerialised, a bright white light filled the room. She suddenly turned to see 'Fred' standing behind her.

"Captain Janeway." he hissed.

The Captain frowned. Did he just 'flash' in?

"Security to Captain Janeway." hailed Ensign Emmanuel.

She hit her combadge and responded. "Yes, Ensign?" she asked

"Q just disappeared, ma'am." he reported.

"Acknowledged." she responded, "What did you do?"

"It wasn't me Kath… ryn Janeway." he finished after the slight hesitation.

The Captain examined him. "What are you doing here?"

"I… just wanted to see if you'd gotten through to Q yet." he replied.

Just as she was about to answer, something hit her. Not physically, mentally.

"Of course…" she whispered to herself.

Finally! Her work had paid off because the finally piece of the puzzle had just fallen into place.

"Excuse me _Fred_," she said, hoping she didn't sound to sarcastic, "I'm needed somewhere else."

"Of course..." he smiled, "Au revoir, Madame Captain."

He then disappeared in the same flash of light.

Madame Captain?' she thought to herself. That was the icing on the cake. She fully understood it now… she understood everything.

=/\=

As she entered the Brig that evening, he eyes wondered to the 'poor little Q' locking inside the cell. The Ensign on duty stood to attention only for Janeway to signal him to relax. Q looked up at the woman who stood before him.

"Kathy." he said.

"Don't!" she exclaimed, "I've played your pathetic little game long enough and I'm tired of it now."

"Kathy?" he questioned.

She rolled her eyes. "You're a good actor." she told him, "You missed your true calling."

"What?" he questioned.

"You know," she started, "You really had this 'Madame Captain' going for a while."

Q frowned. "I don't know what you mean."

"Save it!" she ordered, "I understand now."

"Understand what?" he asked.

"Who _Fred_ is!" she shouted, "He's you."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Q cried.

"I'm not." she answered, "You say you're human?"

Q nodded, afraid this situation was about to escalate out of control.

"Okay…" she trailed off, "Computer, remove all oxygen from behind the force field of Cell 1."

Q's eyes widened. "Kathy!" he cried before his 'choking' reflex kicked in.

She shook her head. "I'm tired of this little game's Q." she told him, "You never lost your powers. Now, stop this pathetic charade."

Q, who was on his knees, tried to take in the amount of oxygen his body 'required'. He looked up and Janeway who definitely wasn't going to 'call his bluff'. That was the correct human phrase wasn't it?

"Fine!" he exclaimed before standing up without any problem.

The young Ensign was as shocked as hell but this exactly what Kathryn expected to see. She wasn't looking forward to the 'I told you so' off Chakotay which she expected later that day. Q on the other hand looked quite upset at the fact he'd been discovered. He snapped his fingers and appeared next to Kathryn outside the cell.

"How did you find out?" he asked.

"I followed the trail of lies." she sneered.

He looked away and debated what to say next...

"I'm sorry." he said.

Sorry… yeah right!

"Why did do this?" she asked, "What made you this… sick?"

He rubbed his eyes and thought of how to respond.

"And why, of all things, did you make yourself seem evil in this stupid little game?" she asked.

"I… I wanted to remain on Voyager while you were pregnant." he told her, "But I knew you would insist I leave so I made it seem like I couldn't leave. I thought you'd take pity on me for loosing my powers… but it didn't work out as I planned."

"I still don't understand why you made yourself seem evil." she told him.

"I knew if you heard that I'd done something like that, you'd insist I stay on-board so you could try and 'straighten me out'." he told her.

"You've lied to me… all this time!" she said trying not to shout, "Hell Q! You threatened the lives of everyone on this ship and you put us all in danger when 'Fred' put my crew in danger! How could you do this?"

"I'm sorry." he said.

He came over and placed his hand on her shoulder. The action made her feel very tense. He was touching her…

"Can you forgive me?" he asked.

She looked up at him and attempted to let her body relax. He continued to look at her, hoping she would forgive him.

She actually found it quite laughable. Forgiven… he had a nerve!

"No way!" she said pulling away from his grip and shoving her hand into his face.

Q was taken aback. She'd just hit him! Kathryn, however, couldn't contain how good that had made her feel. Forget the pain which was searing throughout her hand, it was worth it!

"I… I guess I deserved that." he said as he rubbed his cheek.

"Yes you did." he said trying to contain the rest of her anger for him.

"I want to be here for you." he told her holding onto the side of his face, "And the baby."

Kathryn gulped. Ensign Emanuel was still in the room and was hearing every word. She turned around to him and without saying a word told him he was dismissed, all by the nod of her head.

"You may be the 'biological' father." she continued after he'd left, "But you'll never be the 'father' of the baby."

This saddened Q.

"You know," she started, "I never disliked you Q. I put up with you, but I never disliked you… until now."

"Kathy, I am truly sorry." he reassured her.

"It's not good enough Q." she told him, "You impregnated me even though you knew my wishes not to have your child."

"I was stupid…"

"Yes you were." interrupted Janeway.

This was usually the time Q would make a comeback like 'You weren't supposed to agree with me', but not this time. This time even he had to admit that he'd really messed up.

He looked at Kathryn and then down at her swelling belly. "I'll leave now."

"Yes." she said, "I think you've definitely overstayed your welcome."

He bit his lip. "I am really sorry."

"Give it a rest!" she barked, "If you were truly sorry and even cared about me, you never would have done this!"

He smiled weakly but found out it wasn't returned. He went to snap his fingers but was interrupted by the Doctor's hail.

"Captain." he said over the com system.

"Yes Doctor?" she asked, "What is it?"

She could head the sadness in his holographic voice.

"We've lost Naomi…"


	13. The Littlest Crew Member

Chapter 13

Kathryn felt like someone had knocked the air out of her lungs. Naomi… dead, surely there had to be some mistake…

"I'm on my way." she said.

Her hands were trembling as she made her way to Sick Bay. Surely this was just a god damn awful nightmare… Surely, any minute now, she was going to wake up in bed next to Chakotay and find out its all been an awful dream.

Unfortunately the reality of the situation hit her when she entered Sick Bay. Samantha was sobbing uncontrollably by the side of the little girl's lifeless body. Q, who had followed Kathryn, approached the Surgical Bay. Kathryn couldn't handle it. Usually she didn't cry in front of the crew but she couldn't help it anymore. She slowly approached Sam and put her hand on her shoulder.

"Samantha." she whispered, "I am so sorry."

Sam turned around. Her face was flooded with still-falling tears and her lip was quivering uncontrollably. A piece of Kathryn's heart broke. She swiftly pulled Sam into a hug in attempt to comfort her. She knew it would be no use but the thing Sam needed at that moment was support. Kathryn thought about the tragedies Sam had suffered over the past four years. First she lost her husband when Voyager became stranded, two years ago she lost Naomi for the first time, and now, she'd lost her for good!

Q examined the little girl's body. It was covered in grey scars from the cell degradation which had slowly eaten her life away. However, he was more focused on the cranial ridges on the little girl's forehead.

"Doctor?" he asked, "What species is she?"

"She was a Human/Ktarian hybrid." he answered.

'Was'… That was another crippling blow to confirm to Kathryn that Naomi really was dead.

"She IS a Human/Ktarian hybrid." cried Sam.

"Of course..." said the Doctor.

"Ktarian?" cried Q.

"Yes." replied the Doctor.

Q covered his mouth while guilt pulsed throughout his body.

"This is all my fault!" he exclaimed to himself.

Samantha pulled away from the Captain and frowned. "Yours?"

"The radiation…" he said, "It's devastating to Ktarian tissue."

"What radiation?" questioned the Doctor.

"The one which allowed me to transform into a non-corporeal life form when I was masquerading as Fred…"

"Masquera…?" started the Doctor.

"You mean your pathetic little game had cost Naomi her life?" Janeway interrupted, almost screaming at him.

Q rubbed his head. He had to make up for what he'd done to Kathy… and Naomi. He didn't think the radiation would have been a problem when he became Fred for the first time. He didn't know there were any Ktarian's on board the ship.

He glanced down at the frail child's body once again before sighing. He relaxed all the muscles in his body and put his hand onto Naomi's motionless chest. Golden energy started to flow through his hand into Naomi's body, causing all the surface scars to fade away in seconds.

Suddenly, the sound of Naomi's breathing filled the Surgical Bay. The Doctor quickly moved in and scanned her still-healing body. Kathryn and Samantha watched on at the miracle taking place in front of them. The Doctor was amazed with the readings he was getting. All Naomi's cell damage was healing at a miraculous speed and all her vital signs were slowly returning to normal, but most of all, she was alive!

"All the cell damage is gone." reported the Doctor after Q had finished.

Relief flooded through Kathryn and Samantha who then started sobbing in relief. Her baby girl was going to be okay. Q moved away from Naomi and looked over at Kathryn. She couldn't deny that she was still immensely angry with him but she appreciated the fact he had saved her.

"Thank you." she mouthed.

He nodded and smiled weakly before disappearing. Kathryn then looked back over at Sam who was rubbing Naomi's forehead. The colour had already started to return to Naomi's skin and she had already started stirring. It was nice to get a happy ending... this time.

=/\=

_Kathryn Janeway's Personal Log_

_It's been two weeks since our last encounter with Q. I hate to admit it but I've actually started to enjoy my pregnancy a lot more now there's no pressure. No aliens attacks, no death threats and mort of all, no Q! I could get used to this for the next eight months, but for some reason, I don't think I'll be that lucky..._

_End Log_

Kathryn had just hit the ten month marker in her pregnancy. She was the equivalent of being five months pregnant and she knew that soon she would have to start to wear the dreaded maternity uniform. She'd informed the crew a couple of weeks before and they had all been very supportive. Of course, they all thought the baby was Chakotay's but that didn't bother her in the slightest. Naomi was also back in perfect health and didn't Neelix know it. He was back hunting for monsters with her, but he didn't mind one bit. Naomi was also very excited about Janeway's new baby. She'd told Kathryn that she was going to help her as much as she could when the baby arrived. She didn't mind, especially since two weeks beforehand they had almost lost her.

"Here you are." Chakotay told her as he handed her at least ten PADD's.

Kathryn's jaw dropped. "You expect me to do all of these?" she asked.

"Well you are the Captain." he reminded her.

She studied the amount of PADD's in her hand. "It will take me all day to do these!" she cried.

"Good." Chakotay said, "At least I know that today you'll take it easy."

He sat on the edge of her desk and leaned down towards her while she rolled her eyes at the fact that he'd won… again.

"Are you going to be like this for the next eight months?" she asked.

"Absolutely." he replied before kissing her forehead, "I'll see you later."

=/\=

"Chakotay to Torres." he hailed over the com.

"Yes Commander?" she asked.

"Is everything set?" he questioned.

"It will be as soon as you get down here." she answered.

He smiled and stood up. "On my way." he informed her, "Lieutenant Ayala, you have the Bridge."

"Aye, Commander." he said, taking up his position in the Commander's chair.

Meanwhile in the Ready Room, Janeway had just completed reading the last of the reports. It turns out that there had been twelve, very detailed, reports all with an average of 7 pages of information. It was safe to say that Kathryn had been as bored as hell. She slammed the last report down on her desk.

"Finally!" she muttered to herself.

She rubbed her eyes for a moment trying to get her eyes to focus on the wall opposite to her. She then sat back on her chair and sighed.

"Torres to Janeway." hailed B'Elanna.

Janeway tapped her com badge. "Yes, B'Elanna?"

"Captain, you're needed in the Mess Hall." she told her, "There's a bit of a problem."

Kathryn rolled her eyes and sighed. "On my way." she replied.

=/\=

As Janeway headed towards the Mess Hall, she passed many crewmen who had greeted her on her journey. The corridors seemed unusually quiet but it didn't worry her too much. There was probably an event taking place on the holodeck. As she got closer towards the Mess Hall, she saw B'Elanna standing outside the doors with her arms folded. That couldn't be good.

"What's the problem?" Kathryn asked.

B'Elanna moved her head towards the door referring to something inside, that made the Captain sigh once again. She followed B'Elanna inside where she saw another vaguely empty room.

"So what's the problem?" she asked once again looking around the room.

Then all of a sudden then a large collective group appeared from behind the galley yelling: "SURPRISE!"

The Captain's mouth opened in surprise when she saw all her friends standing before her. She was amazed that they had even managed to fit behind there!

"The problem was that you weren't here yet." B'Elanna answered smiling.

"What's all this?" Kathryn asked as the room started to flood with her friends.

"Your baby shower." answered Tom, "We thought you needed something to cheer you up, especially after the last few weeks."

Kathryn's smiled beamed. She couldn't believe they'd gone to all this trouble for her.

"Presents!" exclaimed Neelix as he, Samantha and Naomi Wildman all appeared carrying a number of coloured gift bags.

"Oh!" cried Kathryn, "You didn't have too!"

"Yes we did." argued Harry, "Come on!"

He led her over to the sofa near the replicator where everyone joined her. Naomi came over and sat on the floor in the middle of everyone.

"Naomi!" Sam called, gesturing her to come over to her.

"It's okay Samantha." Kathryn said.

"Can I give out the presents?" she asked sweetly.

Kathryn smiled and nodded.

B'Elanna passed her the first present to give to the Captain. Naomi glanced at the tag on it and proudly said:

"This one's off Ensign Kim."

Kathryn smiled and took to squidgy package off her. It was wrapped in standard Starfleet paper.

"The paper will make more sense in a minute." Harry told her.

This intrigued her so she ripped off the paper and looked at the gift. She giggled when she saw the baby grow inside. It was the exact replica of her Starfleet uniform and it even had little combadge sewn onto it.

"Wow!" she smiled, "Thanks Harry."

"And the blue and golden ones are there too." he informed her.

=/\=

It had taken a good half an hour to open the majority of her presents. She'd received an ancient human puzzle game called 'Kaleidoscope' off Tuvok, a toy model of Voyager off Tom Paris, a mobile of Earth's Solar System off B'Elanna, holo-recordings of the Doctor of him singing lullaby's, a blanket off Neelix, a Starfleet set of dummies - also known as pacifiers or soothers - off Sam Wildman and a drawing of 'Voyager welcoming the baby' off Naomi Wildman. In actuality it looked like a supernova exploding into a rainbow but Kathryn still liked it.

"Captain." said Seven, handing her a gift bag.

Kathryn was surprised to say the least. "Thank-you."

She opened the bag to find a furry, brown teddy bear inside with a red bow tied around its neck.

"My research indicated that human children often require a stuffed bear to help them sleep." she informed her, "Will this suffice?"

Kathryn nodded examining the toy in her head. "It's perfect, Seven."

After a moment, Neelix decided it was time to get the party going again.

"Well," he said, "Who's ready for the food?"

"Wait a minute Neelix." said Chakotay, "There's still one present left."

"There is?" he asked looking around, "Where?"

Chakotay walked over the Kathryn and knelt down in front of her. He then took out a small box out of his pocket and opened it, exposing a diamond ring.

"I was wondering if you want the baby to have a father." he said.

Kathryn could feel herself welling up. This was getting close too perfect.

"Kathryn," he said, "Will you marry me?"


	14. The Captain's Proposal

Chapter 14

Kathryn was overwhelmed by how she was feeling as she saw him kneeling in front of her, exposing the most beautiful diamond ring she had ever seen in her life. He was proposing… and he was being very brave, what if she said no in front of everyone? Of course, she knew what her answer was going to be but she admired his courage. It takes a real man to take a risk like that.

The entire room had become silent and everyone was hoping for the same thing. Kathryn still couldn't believe her luck. She thought after getting stranded in the Delta Quadrant she'd never find someone again, yet here was Chakotay proposing to her. Could she get any luckier?

She smiled. "It depends."

Chakotay thought that answer would make him nervous but he just smiled and asked:

"On what?"

She leant in closer to him.

"Is this the way the angry warrior story ends?" she asked.

Chakotay smiled. "It's the way I want in to end," he admitted, "Or at least this chapter."

It was safe to say she was impressed by that answer. Of course, nobody knew what the hell they were talking about but it had impressed her that Chakotay was being so open and honest. Now she definitely knew what her answer was.

She looked deep into his eyes. He hoped by the smile on her face that her answer would be the one he was hoping for.

"Yes." she answered in a whisper.

Only the people close enough actually heard straight away but after a moment everyone could tell she's said 'yes'. Chakotay's grin starting beaming before the two of them kissed passionately.

The entire room broke out into applause and everyone took their turn to congratulate the happy couple. Chakotay was over the moon! He had been extremely nervous to begin with, proposing in front of everyone, but it had been worthwhile. Kathryn was now his fiancée and soon-to-be wife.

=/\=

Good news seemed to travel at Warp 10 on Voyager. Kathryn and Chakotay had got engaged only a couple of hours before yet as they returned to Kathryn's quarters for the evening, every crewman they passed congratulated them.

"So, did you enjoy the shower?" Chakotay asked when they got to her quarters.

Kathryn nodded. "Is that the reason I was stuck doing reports all day?" she asked.

Chakotay smiled. "Well, I couldn't have you finding out beforehand." he told her.

Kathryn sat down on the sofa and sighed. It had been a long day…

"Here you go." Chakotay said, handing her a cup of tea.

She inhaled the aroma and sighed. She really missed being able to drink coffee but the baby in her stomach was worth it.

"Thanks." she said.

She took a sip and admired the dazzling ring on her left hand. None of it felt real, not yet. She actually had to pinch herself to prove to herself she was going to marry the man of her dreams. It was safe to say she couldn't be happier.

=/\=

It had been a week since the engagement and the news had spread all over the ship. The few members of the crew who didn't congratulate them on the night of their engagement had now. Kathryn still couldn't imagine that it was actually real. It was like a dream, a dream she didn't want to wake up from.

"So," started Chakotay, "I was wondering if you want me to decorate the baby's room?"

Kathryn, who had been reading the latest Astrometrics report, looked up at the man standing over her and smiled.

"You'd do that?" she asked.

"Of course." he replied, "If am going to be the father, I need to pull my weight."

"There's no 'am' about it!" she confirmed, "Besides, you'll be a great father... much better than Q."

Chakotay smiled and sat down on the sofa next to Kathryn. He then placed his hand on her slightly swollen stomach.

"I hope so." he said, "So, what colour shall I do it?"

Kathryn shrugged. "I don't know." she replied, "But make it a neutral colour."

"Aye Aye Captain." he agreed, "We can't have a boy in a pink room."

"Or a girl in a blue or green room." she pointed out.

Chakotay smiled. "I'll start it tomorrow." he said, "Are you coming?"

He was referring to bed. They both had been awake for over nineteen hours and their next shift was just under eight hours away.

Kathryn nodded and headed to bed with her fiancée. As she hit the pillow that night, her head was filled with images of her life after the baby was born. Part of her couldn't wait until that time came even though she was still incredibly nervous. However, as long as Chakotay was there with her, she knew she would never have a problem.

=/\=

Kathryn was now ten and a half months pregnant yet it still didn't feel real, at least not yet. She had decided to start wearing her main maternity uniform in order to hide her bump. She was still quite self conscious at the idea of the crew seeing her pregnant so the maternity uniform was a blessing because it actually hid it.

The Bridge that morning was oddly quiet. There were no anomalies on sensors, no problems on board, there was absolutely nothing. Tom was as bored as ever. He had been taught at the Academy that piloting a starship was boring… apart from the times it's not. That time it was safe to say that it was one of the times that piloting the ship was extremely boring. He looked over at Harry who staring into space – literally. He then looked at the Captain. She was reading a PADD that the Commander had given her at the start of the shift.

It must be interesting, he thought. She'd been reading it for hours. He then turned to the Commander. He looked up at Tom and smiled weakly. He then saw the Captain put down her PADD and sigh. He smiled slightly and spun back around to the helm.

"Good story, Captain?" he asked.

"If you call a 47-page Engineering report a 'good story', then yes." she replied.

47 pages?" he asked in disbelief, "Who wrote that?"

He could barely manage to write a 5-page report, let alone 47!

"Ensign McKinley from Stellar Cartography." she replied rubbing her head.

Tom scoffed. He must be eager for a promotion, he thought to himself. Chakotay on the other hand was far more interested with the Captain. She'd suddenly gone very pale.

"Headache?" he questioned quietly enough for only her to hear.

She nodded slightly. "I'll be okay." she told him, "It'll be gone in a minute."

A few more minutes passed and the Captain's headache faded, something which didn't bother her in the slightest. Oh, what she wouldn't do for a nebula or an anomaly to study. She'd had enough of danger and battles, but she hated the idea of flying through space without being able to study anything.

=/\=

As Kathryn sat in her office that night, she returned back to studying the research obtained at the pulsars where they had discovered the aliens with the genetic tags. That kind of anomaly fascinated her, it was just a shame she couldn't have been interested when they were in orbit, but now while she had nothing to do, she had a great opportunity to review all the data collected.

"Kathryn?" called Chakotay as he entered her quarters after his shift.

"In here!" she called from her office.

Chakotay entered to see her buried in piles of PADD's of data.

"Kathryn, what are you doing?" he asked.

"Research." she replied with a smile.

He rolled his eyes and smiled. "You and your flipping research!" he cried.

"I like it!" she exclaimed.

He took off the top layer on his uniform and left in on the side. He then made his way over to Kathryn and starting massaging her shoulders. She automatically sighed and stopped looking at the pulsar analysis displayed in front of her, allowing her tense shoulders relax under his marvellous hands.

"You're so tense." he stated.

She closed her eyes and sighed.

"It feels so good…" she told him.

He continued to massage her shoulders but also knelt down behind her. He then started to kiss her neck which she didn't have a problem with. Chakotay broke away and turned off her computer.

"Come to bed." he whispered.

She smiled and followed him into the bedroom. They both stood at the bottom of the bed and entangled into each other's arms, kissing passionately. Nothing could spoil the moment for either of them, could it?

"Oh I'm disgusted!" cried a familiar voice.

They quickly broke away and looked around.

"Q?" they cried in unison.

"Hi!" he exclaimed.

Kathryn could have screamed. What the hell did he want this time?


	15. Sleeping Aliens

Chapter 15

"What the hell are you doing here?" Kathryn cried.

"Well Kathy, I'm very disappointed by you." he said as he clambered over from the spot he'd appeared on.

"And why is that Q?" questioned Chakotay.

"Well Chuckles," he started, "I don't believe I gave you permission to be the father of MY child!"

"And I don't believe I gave you permission to come aboard MY ship." replied Chakotay, "So it looks like we're both disappointed."

He sneered at the Commander and then turned by to Kathryn.

"I don't want to be the bearer of bad news Kathy" said Q, "But the Continuum would never allow a Q child to exist outside the Continuum."

Kathryn couldn't believe his audacity. First he impregnated her without her consent, now he was threatening to take away her baby.

"Get out." she scowled.

"Kathy…" he objected.

"Now!" she ordered.

Q sighed. "I'm sorry Kathy, but this is how it has be."

The Captain pretty much broke down after that. All her emotional strength had been seriously depleted over the last few months thanks to Q, but this was the final blow…

=/\=

Something was wrong. The ship felt oddly quiet and dark. She couldn't find anybody, not even Chakotay. She continued drifting down the corridors until she came to a dead end. She looked around as the ship span around her while an eerie mist started to fill the corridors.

"Kathryn…" whispered a voice, "Kathryn, where are you?"

She followed the sound of the voice until she reached the Mess Hall. It had sounded similar to Chakotay when it called, but the sound of it filled her with apprehension, something Chakotay's voice had never done before. As she entered the dimly lit room, she spotted a figure in the far corner staring out of the window into space.

"Chakotay?" she enquired.

The figure didn't move. She slowly approached, carefully examining her surroundings but she couldn't see anything because it was so dark.

"Computer, lights." she ordered.

Nothing happened. She looked up at the figure again. It still hadn't moved.

"Chakotay?" she asked again.

"Yes, Captain?" he replied from behind her, causing her to jump.

She looked between him and the figure trying to understand who it was.

"Then-Then who's that?" she questioned.

Chakotay raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"You didn't recognise him?" he asked, taking her arm and guiding her closer.

"No." she replied.

"Well, you should have." Chakotay told her, "Computer, lights!"

The room suddenly lit up to expose Q standing in the corner, smiling menacingly at her. Fear swept through her body and she immediately placed her hand protectively onto her belly. However, she didn't feel her baby at all; in fact, her stomach was as flat as it had been before her pregnancy even started. She started to panic when she looked down to see no evidence of her baby at all.

"Is everything alright, Captain?" asked Chakotay.

She looked up and jumped back in terror when she saw, not only Chakotay, but also a vicious looking alien who had sharp ridges on his forehead and down the front of his neck. She immediately looked over at Q who was holding a newborn baby in his arms.

"I told you this is how it would be!" he exclaimed.

Kathryn screamed and suddenly jolted awake. She looked down at her stomach to see her bump still there. She breathed a sigh of relief. What an awful dream…

=/\=

Kathryn left her ready room that morning with the images from her nightmare still plaguing her mind. Chakotay had already been on duty for a few hours but the rest of the Bridge seemed oddly empty. She examined each station to see that both Tom and Harry weren't there.

"Seem to be a little shorthanded today." she said as she sat down in her chair.

"Tom and Harry are both late." he said, "I was going to give them another five minutes but I'll call them now if you'd like."

Kathryn shook her head. "No that's alright." she said, "I'm a little late myself, aren't I?"

Chakotay smiled attempting not to make direct eye contact.

"I wasn't going to mention it." he informed her, "Burning the midnight oil?"

"No." she replied, "I went to bed early for a change."

"Really?" interrupted Chakotay, "Because I went to bed at 2200 hours last night and you were still buried in whatever it was you were buried in."

"Well as a matter of fact," she continued, "I went to bed at 2230 hours when you were already asleep, but I had a nightmare and I could not get back to sleep."

Kathryn rubbed her head. It had definitely been one hell of a nightmare…

"I had a bad dream last night too." Chakotay told her.

"You tell me yours," she said, "And I'll tell you mine."

"I'm sorry I'm late, Captain." said Tom as he entered the Bridge with a cup of coffee in his hands.

She looked up at him as he headed towards the helm. He looked like hell!

"Well?" she asked Chakotay, resting her hands on her stomach.

=/\=

What a day! It turns out that all the crew had had similar dreams about their new alien 'friends'. Now they were all in Cargo Bay Two trying to find a way to retake the ship. It had been a very eventful day so far. Seven and Harry had come up with a very 'interesting' diversion in order to fool the aliens…

"_We'll have to create a diversion." Tuvok had put forward when they were discussing how to get out of the Cargo Bay._

"_Any ideas?" asked Kathryn._

"_I have one Captain." Seven informed her._

_She swiftly walked over to Ensign Kim, grabbed him by his chest and threw him to the floor._

_Needless to say, Kathryn was a little confused – and shocked – about what Seven had in mind._

"_What the hell are you doing?" cried Kim after realising the fact she had just thrown him onto the floor._

"_Creating a diversion." Seven whispered before forcefully assisting him off the floor, "Ensign Kim! It is your fault we have been captured!"_

_She then struck him across the face. She didn't actually hit him but it was very convincing._

"_I suggest you fight back." she said to Kim who then started 'fighting' with her._

_Many of the crew starting joining in which caused the aliens to intervene._

Turns out it wasn't as easy as that considering while B'Elanna and Chakotay where trying to escape the Bay, Chakotay saw the Earth's moon. This informed them that they were all still dreaming in what Seven called a 'collective unconscious.'

The biggest test of all what when she decided to risk her life when the Warp Core 'failed to eject'. She remained in Engineering when the explosion should have occurred and moments later walked out… alive!

"_Either I've become imperious to antimatter explosions," she stated, "Or we're still dreaming."_

_The look on Tuvok's face had been priceless._

"_A warp core explosion should have destroyed the ship." stated B'Elanna._

_Kathryn nodded in agreement. "If I were awake." she agreed, "Or if any of this were real which it obviously isn't. Things just weren't adding up, Chakotay's disappearance, the warp core 'failing' to eject, and as Chakotay said: "Lucid dreaming is about taking control", so I took a chance."_

"_Surely there must have been a less extreme method of testing your assumptions." Tuvok stated in a way Kathryn would have described as slightly aggravated__, "As Captain, and as an expectant mother, you shouldn't be taking chances with your life!"_

"_I'm touched by your 'concern', Tuvok." she told him._

"_Now that we know this is a dream," said B'Elanna, "What do we do?"_

Now, that was the big dilemma Kathryn was faced with… What were they to do next?


	16. No Strings Attatched Shore Leave

Chapter 16

It had been well over a month since Voyager's encounter with the sleeping aliens. Kathryn was now twelve months pregnant which was equivalent of a human being six months gone.

At that moment in time, Chakotay was still leading her into the baby's room covering her eyes with his hands. Over the past few weeks, the room had been his special project that no-one was allowed to see. You can imagine how hard it was not to see it when her bedroom was adjacent from it, but some how she'd actually managed not to look.

"Chakotay." she moaned.

"Almost there." he reassured her.

He removed his hands from her face.

"Open your eyes." he ordered.

Joy swept through her when she saw the transformation. It was beautiful. The crib was opposite the door and had the mobile of The Earth's Solar System off B'Elanna above it. The white teddy bear blanket from Neelix was folded neatly in the crib where the teddy off Seven sat, smiling at whoever entered the room. All the toys were in a box which had been handmade by Chakotay. The only thing wrong with it was that there was a missing panel on the top, the panel Chakotay intended for the baby's name to be on. Small posters of animals, colours and shapes decorated the walls, models of Voyager and the shuttles dangled from the ceiling and a blind with stars on it hung across the window.

"Oh Chakotay." she exclaimed, "It's beautiful!"

He approached her from behind and smiled. "I'm glad you like it."

He wrapped his arms around her and her swollen tummy and began kissing her neck. She moaned in delight and exposed her neck more. She loved the way he made her feel.

"Tuvok to Janeway." hailed Tuvok.

"Unbelievable…" she sighed as Chakotay pulled away, "Yes, Tuvok?"

"Captain, we are being hailed by an approaching vessel."

She sighed. "We're on our way." she replied, "Janeway out."

=/\=

_Captain's Log_

_We've spent the last two days orbiting a planet called Harrell XI. We met a Mr. Hudersona who is a respected trader in the area. He has offered us new weapons and technology which he says will be a big help in the up and coming months. I look forward to see what we can obtain._

_End Log_

"Here you are, Captain." Chakotay said as he handed her a PADD with a list of all available technology.

She skimmed through the list. It all looked very impressive.

"He's offered to beam up and show us some simulations." reported Chakotay as he took his seat.

Kathryn rubbed her stomach. "Very well." she said.

"Are you alright?" questioned Chakotay.

"I don't know…" she answered truthfully.

"Is the baby kicking?" he asked.

"No, definitely not!" she replied, "Kicking tickles more than anything; this is more like a burning sensation spreading all down my side."

"Maybe you should let the Doctor take a look." he suggested.

Kathryn rolled her eyes and gave him one of her famous stares.

"Or maybe not." he said, breaking away from her eye contact and smiling to himself.

=/\=

"The metronomic laser: a dynamic cannon able to knock out shields on any vessel at an incredible range of 400,000 kilometres; Multi-dimensional shield enhancers: able to enhance shields to over 5000% of normal…" bragged Mr. Hudersona.

"I thought this was meant to be a ten minute presentation." Kathryn whispered to Chakotay as Mr. Hudersona continued to advertise his products.

Chakotay shrugged. After twenty minutes of listening to him drone on, even he had to admit he was getting a little bored. He took a quick glace at the other officers on the Bridge. Apart from Tuvok, they all looked as bored as hell too.

"Enough!" cried the Captain after a moment, "I've heard enough."

"So, have you decided what you would like?" he asked eagerly.

Kathryn sighed. She couldn't remember half the things he had been talking about.

"Tomorrow, Mr. Tuvok and Seven of Nine will join you on the surface to take a look at your 'multi-dimensional shield enhancers'…" she started.

"Excellent." he agreed.

"… The Doctor will definitely like to take a look at your medical equipment," she continued, "and I'm sure you can contact your assistant to allow Mr. Neelix to obtain some new food supplies."

"I would be happy too, Captain." he exclaimed, "And what might I expect in return?"

"What do you want?" she asked.

_I know exactly what I want_, he thought, but _you'll never give it to me willingly_.

"I would like to take a look at the Borg temporal sensors in your Astrometrics Lab." he answered.

"That's going to be quite difficult." she said, "They've been adapted to function for our ship."

"I like a challenge." he told her.

"Mr Hudersona I'm sorry, they'll be no use to you." she said.

"Of course, Captain." he agreed, "Maybe some of your isolinear processing chips instead."

"That's it?" questioned the Captain, "That's all you want?"

_No_, he thought. "Yes." he replied, "Ten chips would improve my sensors by 9.6%, twenty chips by 12.7%, 100 chips would improve them by 132.4%... that is if that is the amount you intent to give me..."

The Captain smiled. "You've certainly done your research." she said, "125 chips. No more."

"Thank you Captain." he said, "And may I say _hinath coban."_

"I'm sorry?" she asked.

"Forgive me." he said, "It means 'happy mother, happy baby'. It's a blessing among my people."

Kathryn smiled and rubbed her belly. "Thank you, Mr Hudersona."

=/\=

"Captain." said Seven, "Mr. Hudersona has finished obtaining the chips. He has offered to stay on board and help modify the Engineering systems ready for the shield enhancers to be put into place."

"That's very kind of him." she said.

Seven was slightly uncomfortable. There was something about Hudersona she didn't like.

"Yes," she said after a moment, "I will work with him, if you wish."

"Okay." she said, "Goodnight Seven."

Kathryn couldn't help but notice Seven's discomfort. It wasn't like her to dislike someone she'd never worked with before…

=/\=

In a lab about two metres underground the surface of Harrell XI; Hudersona sat at his console taping in some last minute requirements.

"Hedrina!" he called, "Is the clandestine room ready?"

A woman of his species appeared out of the darkness of the dimly lit room and nodded.

"I'm still not sure about this…" she admitted, "What if she's violent?"

"She'll be restrained." he reminded her, "And once we've got the baby, she'll be free to go."

"She may come back to look for it." she argued.

"She won't remember it, you fool!" he shouted, "Now go home and get some sleep. We will only have one chance at it."

"Okay…" she said, "Shall I be here for about 5pm?"

"Yes." he replied, "Tomorrow, once I've convinced the Captain to let the crew take shore leave for a few days, we'll have her."

The young woman nodded at him, and slowly walked home. She was very scared about the events she was going to take part in the day after. She was doing as ordered, and the money from this was going back to her family who desperately needed it, but the task itself was so heartless. She tried to think of that it would be for a good cause, but she couldn't because it wasn't… No matter what Hudersona said to her to try and make her feel more comfortable about it, she knew it was wrong and it was slowly eating away at her mind. She was never going to forgive herself after it…


	17. Forgotton Date Night

Chapter 17

Janeway entered the Bridge that morning with an enormous smile on her face.

"You look happy." commented the Commander.

"Mr. Hudersona has offered the crew some time for personal R&R on the planet once the trading missions have ended." she informed the crew.

Tom hit his console out of excitement. It had been a long time since he, or anyone, had had some time off to relax and have fun.

"Careful Tom," Chakotay said with a smile, "If you get any happier, we're going to need to ask Mr. Hudersona if he can get us a new helm."

"Sorry Commander." he said.

He then turned to the part of the console which he had hit and stoked it. "And I'm sorry console."

The Captain smiled and sat down in her chair. "In your own time, Lieutenant." she reminded him.

"Aye, Captain."

Chakotay went to sit down on his chair but his eyes fell onto a PADD at the side of his chair.

"Oh Harry," he said as he picked it up, "Will you take this down to Seven in Cargo Bay Two? She'll need it when she goes down to the planet later."

"Aye, Commander." he said taking it off him.

=/\=

When Harry got to the Cargo Bay, he saw Seven searching through a large container.

"Need some help?" he asked.

She stood up straight at the sound of his voice. "Ensign." she noted.

"Harry." he reminded her.

"Of course." she said, "May I help you?"

"The Commander wanted me to give you this." he said handing her the PADD.

She examined the data and looked up at Harry.

"Thank-you." she said politely, "This is most helpful."

He nodded. "Now, what are you looking for?"

"My tricorder." she replied, "I was scanning the containers and I dropped it inside this canister. I cannot reach it."

Harry smiled. "I'll be happy to help."

He reached deep down into the 1.5 metre container in search of the device.

"Why didn't you just get another one?" he asked while still trying to retrieve it.

"I prefer this one." she answered.

A moment later his head emerged and he had the tricorder.

"There you go." he said.

Seven took the instrument and nodded.

"Thank you Ensign." she stated, "Is there something else?"

"We have some R&R scheduled to start tonight." he told her, "I was wondering if you would join me for dinner on Harrell tonight?"

Seven frowned, unsure what he was implying.

"Ensign, are you asking me on a 'date'?" she asked.

"Yes…" he replied.

Seven felt her stomach flutter and a warm sensation flood her throat. She gulped and smiled slightly.

"I accept." she said.

"You do?" Harry asked, almost in disbelief.

"Are you trying to talk me out of it?" she asked.

"No." he replied, "I'll meet you here at 1700 hours."

She nodded. "Agreed." she said.

"Tuvok to Seven of Nine." hailed Tuvok, "Report to Transporter Room 2."

She tapped her combadge. "Aye, Commander." she replied, "I'll see you later, Ensign."

=/\=

"Harry!" exclaimed Tom as he caught up with him, "What's up with you today?"

"I have no idea what you're on about." he said.

"Oh!" scoffed Tom, "Don't play that game with me. You haven't stopped smiling for the last three hours!"

"I'm in a good mood." argued Harry.

"Whatever!" scoffed Tom, "Anyway, me and B'Elanna are going down to the Syria Beach on the Eastern coast tonight. You're welcome to join us."

"I can't tonight." he said, "I'm busy."

"Harry… its shore leave!" cried Tom, "You're not supposed to take extra shifts!"

"I haven't taken extra shifts." he said, "I'm going out."

"With who?" he asked, quite intrigued.

"A friend." he replied.

"Oh!" exclaimed Tom who suddenly got very excited, "Anyone I know?"

"Actually, yes." he replied.

"Will you tell me?" he asked.

"No way!" he replied smiling.

"If I guess, will you tell me?" he asked.

"You'll never get it." he said as they both continued walking down the corridor.

"Louise Marti?" he asked.

"No." replied Harry.

"Ensign Jones?" he asked, "No… Rebecca Painting?"

"No…"

=/\=

"Where are we going?" asked B'Elanna who was fed up of waiting for Tom to answer as she followed him down the corridor.

"To see who Harry's date is." he replied after a moment.

B'Elanna's eyes widened. "Harry?" she asked, "As in Harry Kim? _He's_ got a date?"

"I know… I can't believe it either." he said.

Tom and B'Elanna headed to Harry's quarters just to see him leaving with a bunch of red roses. B'Elanna faced dropped.

"Real original…" she said unenthusiastically.

"Sarcasm Lieutenant?" asked Tom, "That's very unbecoming."

They both followed in Harry's wake. He seemed to be in a daze, and he was completely unaware that they were following him.

"Where's he going?" Tom asked.

B'Elanna looked what section they were in. That was odd. There were no crew quarters in the section they were heading, only Cargo Bay Two.

"No way!" she exclaimed when she realised, "Not her, surely?"

"Who?" asked Tom.

"Seven…" she replied.

Tom's jaw hit the floor, Harry… and Seven on Nine. How the hell had he managed that?

When Harry got to the Cargo Bay, he saw Seven dressed in a simple purple dress with her hair pulled scraggily into a lose ponytail. He was hit by her beauty.

"You look beautiful." he said handing her the flowers.

"Thank you." she said.

He handed her the flowers and smiled.

"Species Rosa Rubrifolia." she stated, "Thank-you...Harry."

He smiled and extended his arm out towards her. "Shall we?" he asked.

=/\=

Later on the planet after Seven and Harry had finished eating dinner, or in Seven's case had eaten part of it, they retired back to the beach. The planet's two suns started setting on the sparkling purple ocean, creating a glorious red mist over it.

"Ensign?" she asked, "May I ask a personal question?"

"Of course." he answered with a smiled.

"Are you…"

Seven stopped dead in her tracks. She had felt a sharp pain numb her neck and it was quickly taking over the rest of her body.

"Seven?" Harry asked.

Her eyes suddenly rolled back and she collapsed onto the sand. He hit his combadge but before he managed to speak, a sharp pain appeared in his back. He started to panic as his body started to become numb. His vision then blurred before going everything went black.

=/\=

Seven awoke to the bright light of the planet's two suns in the sky. She attempted to sit up but a huge pain in her stomach inhibited her from doing so. She rolled her head to the side to see Ensign Kim lying about a metre away from her.

"Ensign?" she asked, "Harry, wake up!"

As Harry's eyes flickered, she closed her eyes in a hope to suppress the pain she could feel in her stomach.

"Seven?" he asked, crawling over to her, "What happened?"

She shook her head. "I don't know."

He saw he wince in what he believed to be pain.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

She opened her eyes and looked up at him, unsure on what to say.

"Erm… I need to regenerate." she lied, "It's been a while."

"Okay, let's get back to the ship." he said, assisting her off her back.

He went to tap his combadge only to find it wasn't there. "What the...?"

Seven noticed and looked down to where hers should have been. It wasn't there either. Now they had no way to contact the ship...

"Harry?" called a voice from across the beach.

Harry looked around to see Tom, Tuvok and two other security officers approaching their position.

"Tom?" he asked, "What are you doing here?"

Tom came over in his uniform which confused Harry. He'd been on shore leave the night before and was staying for the night, so why was he suddenly in uniform… and with Tuvok?

"The Captain got worried when you didn't report in this morning." Tom replied.

"This morning?" Harry asked, "What time is it?"

"1300 hours. You were supposed to report in at 0900 this morning." Tom said, "What happened?"

Tom helped Harry assist Seven off the ground. She was desperately trying to hide the fact she was in terrible pain. Harry tried to get his head around things but he didn't understand what had happened.

"I… I don't know." he replied.

None of this made sense. The last thing he remembered what sitting on the beach with Seven at 1730 hours. Now it was 20 hours later… and he couldn't remember any of it... What the hell happened to them?


	18. Flashbacks

Chapter 18

"And how was Seven?" Kathryn asked Harry after he'd been examined by the Doctor and pronounced 'physically fit'.

"She seemed to be in slight pain." he replied, "But she said it was because she needed to regenerate."

The Doctor frowned slightly. Seven had never experienced pain if she hadn't regenerated before. She usually felt tired or dizzy, but never in pain...

"I'd do a complete physical work up when she next becomes available." the Doctor informed the Captain.

"Okay, thank-you Doctor." replied the Captain who then headed to leave.

"And how are you Captain?" he asked before she managed to escape.

She sighed and turned to face the EMH. "To be honest Doctor, I can't wait until this pregnancy's over."

"Oh?" asked the Doctor.

"I've started to get a terrible burning pain down my side and the back of my leg." she told him.

"Let me have a look." he said, leading her over to a biobed.

"Doctor really, I'm okay." she protested.

"I'll be the judge of that." he told her.

He took out his tricorder and examined the less than enthusiastic Captain.

"The position of the baby is putting pressure on you sciatic nerve." he told her.

"But that kind of pressure usually results in a shooting pain," she said, "Not a burning sensation."

The Doctor thought about it and she was right. It was unusual so he took another look at his readings.

"Ah!" he said, "The energy inside the baby seems to be very hot and that's what's causing you to feel a burning sensation."

"Energy?" questioned the Captain.

"The energy which makes this baby part Q." he said, "I'll desensitise the nerve in order to help."

"Thank-you Doctor."

The procedure took no more than a few minutes but the results were phenomenal!

As the Captain left Sick Bay that day, she headed for Cargo Bay Two. She knew Seven's cycle would end soon and she would be able to assist Mr. Hudersona who was onboard to help set up the shield enhancers.

=/\=

The Captain had ordered Seven to assist in Engineering after her cycle had ended. When she entered the room, she felt he fists clench as soon as Mr. Hudersona came into her sight. She was unsure why, but her dislike for him had become more intense in a matter of seconds.

"Seven." said B'Elanna who seemed to pop out of nowhere, "Can you modify the shield grid to accept the foreign technology?"

"Certainly." she replied.

She headed over to the console where Hudersona was working. She immediately tensed when he looked at her. Why, she didn't know. She just knew that part of her feared him. She continued to modify the shield grid and it annoyed her that Hudersona kept popping his head over her shoulder to see what she was doing.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"My job." she sneered before pulling away from him and working on the console on the other side of the bay.

He went over and looked over her shoulder once again.

"You don't need to do that!" he shouted.

He went to grab her arm which made her tense considerably. A series of disjointed images flooded through her mind. An image of a screaming baby, somebody grabbing her arm, Harry having needle extracted from the side of his neck, a young woman shouting at her…

She suddenly pulled her arm away from his grasp and pushed him away from her which sent him flying to the ground.

"Seven!" cried B'Elanna.

"Where is he?" she screamed at Hudersona, "Where the hell is he?"

B'Elanna broke Seven's stare at Hudersona by standing in the way. Lieutenant Guam held her back while B'Elanna attempted to establish eye contact with her.

"Seven!" she cried, "Calm down."

Seven pulled away from the Lieutenant and bit her lip. Tears started rolling down her face for an unknown reason and she squatted down on the floor. After a moment, Hudersona stood up and came over to her.

"I'm glad you've calmed down now." he said, "I didn't mean to upset you, but at least I wouldn't hurt someone for no reason."

B'Elanna heard the sarcasm in his voice. She knew Seven didn't have the right to push him like that, but even she felt as though she could hit him after that comment.

"Excuse me, sir." interrupted B'Elanna, "That's enough!"

Seven looked up at the man towering above her. She'd never felt hate against anyone before, but this was different. Every instinct in her body was telling her to get revenge on him… but she still didn't know what for.

"LIAR!" she screamed.

Lt. Guam suddenly grabbed onto her arms when she stood up in attempt to attack the alien.

"Where is he?" she cried, "Where the hell is he?"

B'Elanna couldn't help but wonder who she was referring to. Who was the 'he' she kept mentioning?

"Please!" cried Seven, "Please… Where is he?"

=/\=

After B'Elanna informed Kathryn about Seven's incident, she immediately ordered the Doctor to examine her. Seven had calmed down considerably by then and had retreated to the surgical bay. Her mind was full of incoherent images when the Doctor started her examination. The Captain had also remained in the room during the physical. It was safe to say that she was concerned. Seven wouldn't break down without a serious reason.

"This is strange." said the Doctor.

"What?" questioned the Captain.

"There's an increase in nanoprobes in her memory centre." he reported.

"What does that indicate?" Seven asked.

"It's consistent with that of memory restoration." he replied.

"You mean my memories have been altered?" she asked.

"No." said the Doctor, "According to these readings, some of your memories were wiped but the nanoprobes are restoring them."

"Could that explain why I keep seeing a series of disjointed images in my mind?" she asked.

"Its possible." he answered, "Lie down and I'll run some more scans."

Seven did as instructed and the Doctor activated the diagnostic bed. More of the images flooded her mind as she lay there. She could see herself restrained by the young woman and an incubator at the bottom of her bed. She really didn't understand…

"How peculiar." stated the Doctor.

"What is it?" asked Janeway.

"Her hemo-uterine levels are almost three times what they should be." he reported.

"Meaning?" she asked.

"It usually occurs when a woman had recently given birth."

Seven gasped. More images flooded her mind. They were becoming a lot clearer now.

"_One more time." the woman instructed, "You can do it."_

_Seven screamed in agony._

"Seven?" questioned the Doctor, "What is it? What did you see?"

"I-I was in a laboratory…" she stuttered

"Where?" asked the Captain, "Where were you?"

"I don't know…" she said.

"_I've got him!" exclaimed the young woman._

_A piercing cry filled the room, the cry of a newborn baby._

"_Excellent." scowled a familiar voice, "Take him away."_

"_No!" cried Seven, "Leave him! Please!"_

"_I don't think so…" the person said._

Seven recoiled when she realised who the person in her memory was.

"Seven?" asked the Captain.

"Hudersona…" she whispered before her tears started to flow down her face.

"What about him?" she asked.

"He… he took him away…" she said.

"Who?" questioned Kathryn, "Took who away?"

Seven shook her head while tears started streaming down the side of her face.

"My baby…" she whispered.

Kathryn looked up at the Doctor who was almost as shell-shocked as she was.

"Your baby?" she asked, "What baby?"

Seven shook her head. "I don't know…"


	19. Baby Bombshell

Chapter 19

"Concentrate." instructed Kathryn, "What happened to you?"

Seven sighed and looked up at the Doctor who then disengaged the diagnostic bed. She slowly sat up and rubbed her abdomen as more memories flooded back.

"Well," she started, "I was with Ensign Kim on the surface. We were on the beach watching the sunset."

"When was this?" questioned the Doctor.

"The first day of shore leave." she answered, "Tuvok and I had completed our meeting with Hudersona and then I went down to the surface with Harry."

"Then what happened?" asked the Captain.

"I felt a sharp pain in the back of my neck, and my body went numb…" she told her, "and then I blacked out… I woke up and there was a bright light in my eyes…"

_She couldn't see anything due to the fact her eyes were still adjusting to the bright while light that shone above her. When she managed to look around, she noticed she was bound to an examination table and Ensign Kim bound to one on the opposite side of the room. They were both dressed in sea green surgical outfits and connected to some sort of medical monitors._

"_Ensign?" she asked after a moment._

_Harry started stirring and woke up only to be blinded by the same light that blinded Seven. After a moment he looked over at her._

"_Where the hell are we?" he asked quite groggily._

"_I don't know…" she said._

_Suddenly, footsteps filled the room. She could see two figures approaching her position. The smaller one, a female, went up to Harry._

"_I'm Ensign Kim of the Starship Voyager." he told her, "Who are you and what do you want?"_

"_Do not say anything!" said the figure that was hidden in the darkness of the room._

_The voice was familiar but Seven was still disorientated so she was unable to determine who the person was. She looked back over at the woman. She had sedated Harry and was now injecting him in the side of his neck with the needle which was at least 10cm long. After a moment, she pulled the device out of his neck and came over to her. Seven tried to speak, but she was paralysed with fear. The woman, under the orders of the still hidden figure, injected the device directly into Seven's abdomen. It was most uncomfortable but not as painful as she had expected._

"_Now," said the voice, which was obviously male, "Give her the serum."_

"_Yes, sir." the woman said before picking up a hypospray like object and injecting a yellow serum into her neck._

"Then what happened?" asked the Doctor who was getting quite concerned.

Seven thought carefully about it. She was still putting at the pieces together in her mind. Janeway on the other hand was biting her thumb… she had a terrible feeling this wasn't going to be a nice story…

"I awoke three hours later and felt very nauseous." she continued, "The young woman then came over and gave me two hypospray's. The first one blocked my feelings of nausea and the second one sedated me."

The Doctor gulped. "And then that happened?" he asked.

Seven sighed. "And then everything became a lot scarier…"

_Seven awoke another three hours later. Her back was very painful and her lower abdomen was very sore and tender. She attempted to look up but she didn't have the strength to lift her head. After a moment, she looked over in Ensign Kim's direction to see him lying on his examination bed with a device over his forehead. The young woman approached her slowly._

"_What have you to him?" Seven asked._

"_My CO had decided to let him 'sleep'" she responded quite timidly._

_Seven winced in pain as she tried to move her body._

"_Are you in pain?" the woman asked._

_Seven rolled her eyes and managed to lift her head slightly. She couldn't believe what she was seeing…_

"_W-What have you done to me?" she cried._

_Her stomach was swollen, almost like Captain Janeway's…_

"_I-I'm pregnant?" she asked is a state of disbelief._

"_I'm sorry for what is happening." the woman said in attempt to evade the question._

_Seven then started to panic. She was alone in a lab on an alien planet. Ensign Kim was unconsious and there was no way she could contact Voyager. She couldn't even move._

"_Let me go." she cried, "Please."_

"_I'm sorry." whispered the woman, "I can't... Not yet."_

_The woman then scurried out of sight, leaving Seven alone with her thoughts. She was terrified! She examined the size of her stomach. She was only six hours pregnant yet her body was the equivalent to being six months gone. Seven found it slightly ironic. Captain Janeway's pregnancy was double an average human's with two months being the equivalent of one month, while her gestation seemed to be considerably less with one hour being the equivalent of one month._

Kathryn couldn't believe what she was hearing. Seven had been impregnated against her will… now didn't that all too familiar. The Doctor was also quite shocked about the information he was hearing.

"What happened next?" the Doctor asked.

"I… fell asleep." remembered Seven.

Kathryn was still biting her lip. This apparently couldn't be the entire story.

"And then what?" asked the Doctor.

"I awoke to a crippling pain in my lower abdomen three hours later." Seven said.

"Nine months…" whispered the Doctor.

"You'd gone into labour?" asked the Captain.

Seven nodded.

_The pain increased considerably and Seven couldn't stand it much longer. She had only been in labour for an hour yet it had felt like a lifetime. The young woman had examined her three times and was now talking to the still secluded figure who had been watching Seven for the past half an hour._

"_Sir, the baby's heartbeat had dropped and she's too tired to deliver." the woman told him._

"_Tough." he told her before he left the room._

_The young woman gulped as her ears heard Seven's cry's of agony. This was exactly what she hoped wouldn't have happened._

_Four hours later, Seven had finally become dilated enough to give birth, a process she was not looking forward to. The woman put a cold flannel over Seven's head in order to cool her down. The mysterious figure had also reasserted himself in the corner of the room, watching Seven in delight… He'd been waiting for this moment for hours._

"_Okay, It's time for you to push." she said._

_Seven was unbelievably scared but she needed to do it. Her baby was in danger but she didn't want to give birth to him because she knew as soon as he was born, he would be taken away from her, most likely forever..._

"I gave birth to him an hour later." Seven reported wiping away her tears, "And they took him away."

Kathryn's heart poured out to her. It sounded like what was going to happen to her baby when it was born. Q was going to take it away. A single tear ran down the Captain's face which she quickly wiped away, but not before it was noticed by the Doctor. Seven had also started crying. The memory of her son being taken away was far too great for her to handle. Kathryn put her hand on Seven's shoulder.

"We'll find him." she said, "That's a promise, Seven."


	20. Bringing Baby Home

Chapter 20

Kathryn rubbed the arch of her nose. She had been interrogating Mr. Hudersona for three hours to no avail. Apparently, he had no idea what Seven was talking about and apparently, she was a compulsive liar who had made up the story because she didn't like him. It was true she that Seven didn't like him, that reason was obvious, but to designate her a 'compulsive liar', that was preposterous!

Kathryn had also contacted the Minister of Harrell XI who was also shocked by the accusation. He spoke of Hundersona favourably, describing him as an "able scientist who would never harm another being". However, he had promised Kathryn that he would cooperate with Mr. Tuvok's investigation because once an accusation is made, it must be followed up.

Kathryn continued to look through the PADD's of data about Seven's case. The Doctor had been able to confirm Seven had given birth within the last couple of days. That was one blow against Hudersona, but not enough for the Minister to warrant his detainment. The Minister had said that that evidence 'does not prove that the baby is due to Hudersona. The only proof would be seeing and examining the baby itself', which was something Kathryn couldn't provide considering the whereabouts of the baby were unknown.

Chakotay entered their quarters to find her still working. He knew she was doing it for Seven but she still hadn't been to bed for over 16 hours.

"Anything?" he asked.

She shook her head and rubbed her eyes. "Not a thing…"

She sighed and turned off her computer. She then stood up and joined him in the living area.

"Oh." Chakotay said when he saw the look on her face, "Shall I go straight to Red Alert?"

Kathryn smiled. "What makes you say that?"

"You never leave your work unless you want to talk about something." he answered.

She sat down and snuggled down into Chakotay's arms.

"You know," she started, "I'm beginning to wonder if Q's involved in all of this."

"Oh?" asked Chakotay.

"Why would anyone be so cruel to someone intentionally?" she asked.

"Now Kathy, that's unfair." came a voice she had expected to appear anytime soon.

Chakotay and Kathryn looked over to see the exact person Kathryn had just been talking about.

"Commander." she said.

Chakotay got the message and nodded. He they stood up and left the room, but not before giving Q what Kathryn would call a 'death stare'.

"On the contrary," Q continued, "Some species can be immensely cruel, but I'm not that bad."

"Well, you could have fooled me Q." she sneered.

"Look." he said putting his hands up, "I know I've made some mistakes, but this time I genuinely haven't a clue what you're on about."

"Really?" she asked, "You know nothing about why Mr. Hudersona would do what he did to Seven?"

Q gulped and looked away.

"So you do know?" enquired the Captain who began to get angry.

He thought about it. Even though he wasn't directly responsible for what had happened, when he thought about how this incident would make him look, he realised he had made another terrible mistake.

"I didn't make them do it to her." Q told her, "They were going to do it anyway."

"Then why do you look guilty?" questioned Kathryn.

"Because…" he admitted, "I made it happen…"

"I don't understand…" said the Captain.

Q sighed. Maybe cruel was the correct word to call him…

"I made Mr. Hudersona's ship rendezvous with Voyager." he admitted, "And I had full knowledge of what he would do to her."

"You knew?" cried the Captain, "And you let it happen?"

"I hoped it would help you bond more with Seven." he told her, "So you wouldn't feel so alone when the Continuum make me take your baby away."

Kathryn gulped. So, it was official, they were going to take the baby… She instinctively placed her hand on her bump. Somehow she though that it would protect the child from Q.

"So," started Janeway, "You let them traumatise her… to help me?"

Q nodded hoping she understood his reasoning.

"It's sick!" she cried standing up in attempt to maximise the distance between them.

After a moment, once she'd gotten over the initial shock of it, she looked over at Q who was now sitting on her sofa.

"Where's the baby?" she asked.

Q shook his head. "I can't say." he said.

"Why not?" yelled Kathryn.

"Seven won't ever see her son again." he answered, "That's the way it's meant to be… Just like how you won't be able to look after your daughter."

Janeway's eyes widened. "Daughter?" she questioned.

Q bit his lip and covered his mouth.

"Oh!" he cried, "I forgot you didn't want to know yet."

Kathryn's protection over her baby intensified dramatically. He was going to take away her baby… her daughter.

"And you want to take her away?" she asked, having to hold back her tears.

"No." replied Q, "But I have to."

The Captain nodded as silent tears fell down her face.

"Kathy, I'm sorry." he said.

"Just go." she ordered, "Please."

As ordered, he did. He couldn't believe he was hurting her so badly but he had no other choice. He couldn't fight with the Continuum over this matter... no matter how much he wanted too.

=/\=

"Captain." hailed Tuvok, "We are ready to beam down to the planet."

"On my way." she replied.

Kathryn headed down to Transporter Room 2. She, Tuvok, The Doctor and Seven were beaming down to Hudersona's lab in order to check for more evidence to support Seven's story.

When they arrived on the planet, they were joined by the Minister and Hudersona. Kathryn went over to Seven when they joined them in order to calm her down. Her trauma was still well on her mind and her hatred for Hudersona was still incredibly high.

"Captain." said Hudersona when they were in the lab, "You will find nothing in here."

He approached Seven. "The only reason you here" he continued, "is because someone in this room is a compulsive liar!"

Seven moved away in order to stop herself from breaking his nose.

"I think that will be all Mr. Hudersona." said the Minister who was deeply shocked by his outburst, "I can continue from here."

"Of course, sir." he said before vacating the room.

"All right," said the Captain, "Let's take a look around."

=/\=

The away team had been searching Hudersona's lab for over an hour to no avail. Seven found the lab familiar but it wasn't exactly how she remembered it. There were no examination tables; instead there were just consoles where they should have been.

"Is there any evidence of the room's recent reconstruction?" asked the Doctor.

"Not that I can detect." answered Tuvok.

"See Captain?" asked the Minister, "I told you that Hudersona wouldn't do something like this."

Maybe Kathryn had to accept it. Q was right when he said Seven would never see her son again. Kathryn looked over at Seven. She could tell by the look in her eyes that Seven was screaming inside at her not to give up the search but there was simply nothing else they could do.

"Very well…" she said.

Seven shook her head in disbelief. She understood the Captain's reasoning but she desperately didn't want to give up the search. Her baby was here somewhere... she could feel it!

The Doctor went over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. He knew how tough this entire experience had been on her.

"Janeway to Voyager, Four to…" she started.

Seven flinched suddenly when she heard a small sound emanating from beyond the wall she was standing next to.

"What was that?" she asked.

Everybody in the room looked over at her.

"What was what?" asked the Captain.

Seven walked over to the wall and tapped it. It sounded normal to everyone else in the room, but not to her. It sounded almost hollow, like there was something behind it. She closely examined it with her ocular implant. Then something caught her eye, a panel hidden behind the console she was stood next to. She quickly examined the technology and tapped the panel which revealed a doorway in the wall that led to another room. The sound of a baby's gurgles filled the lab. Janeway lifted her head, was this what they were looking for? Was it Seven's baby?

Seven hesitantly entered the room. She looked around and spotted a small incubator. She walked over to see a newborn baby boy lying in it wrapped in a white blanket. Seven gulped. The baby appeared human with a small asterisk Borg implant on its left cheek and one on the back of its right hand. She had an immediate emotion response when she saw the child. It had just occurred to her… this was her baby boy.

A minute or so later, Seven emerged from the newly discovered room cradling a newborn baby. Kathryn gasped while Seven just looked at the Minister with a 'I told you so' look.

"Is this enough evidence, Minister?" she asked, in an almost sarcastic tone.

=/\=

Seven, her baby and the rest of her away team had been beamed up to the ship almost an hour before hand. The Minister had also put out a major alert on the planet calling for Hudersona's arrest in order to await trial. So far, their authorities had had no luck finding him.

Meanwhile in Hudersona's lab, Hudersona had met up with his assistant Hedrina in order to discuss the issue of the baby being found.

"I'm sorry, sir." she cried, "I thought I had disguised the bay like you had told me too."

"Oh, don't mind that Borg drone's infant!" exclaimed Hudersona, "In a few hours they are going to find me, but…"

"But what?" she questioned.

"There's another baby I want." he told her, "Another baby who I can use to get me out of this situation."

"Sir!" she cried, "We can't do this… Not again!"

"We won't be performing the entire procedure again this time." he reassured her, "The baby is already forming and about to enter its third trimester… If we can stimulate it to grow to the age of six after it's born, the child will be ours to teach and control to do what we want."

The young woman frowned. "Why will this baby be so special?" she asked.

He smiled as he continued to go through his new plan in his head.

"Because the baby will be omnipotent." he answered, "Imagine its potential… our potential one we have it!"

"Where are you going to find an omnipotent baby?" she questioned.

"On Voyager." he answered.

The girl frowned. She seriously didn't understand what – or who – he was referring too. He smiled when he saw the confusion in her eyes.

"Captain Janeway's baby." he told her with a smile.

The young woman gulped. She was more afraid this time, especially because Voyager, and the Minister, already knew they had done it once before.

"Set up the equipment." he ordered, "I will prepare for the capture. It will take place in two hours. Be ready."


	21. Taken at Twilight

Chapter 21

Kathryn couldn't believe how the day had ended up. She was glad they'd managed to prove Q wrong and found the baby yet now they were assisting with a manhunt. Tuvok had been scanning for Mr. Hudersona for three hours to no avail. The Harrellian authorities where also searching for Hudersona but for that moment, his whereabouts were still unknown.

On a lighter note, Seven's baby had had a thorough examination and had suffered no permanent damage. The nanoprobe levels in his blood were a little low but were slowly stabilising. For this reason, the Doctor decided to keep him in Sick Bay for the night just to be certain he would be okay. Seven had also decided to stay there for the night, just to be with him. It had actually surprised Kathryn to see how quickly Seven's maternal instincts had kicked in. She wanted to be with him as much as possible, mostly to make up for the time she couldn't be with him after his birth.

Kathryn had also given her a small teddy bear to Seven for him. Seven was grateful and it actually brought a tear to her eye. Kathryn found it slightly ironic. Seven had brought her a teddy for her baby and now she had brought one for her's.

She returned to her quarters and hastily made her way to bed. Her next shift was just six hours away and she desperately needed to sleep. That wasn't that surprising considering she had been on duty for 14 hours straight.

As Kathryn relaxed that night, she felt a slight tingling sensation flutter in her foot. She assumed it had something to do with her desensitised sciatic nerve so she thought nothing of it…

=/\=

As Chakotay made his way towards his quarters that night, he hoped Kathryn had had some sense and made her way to bed. He knew she liked to work as much as possible but she also needed to realise she was only human and sometimes she needed to rest.

He entered their quarters to hear an unnerving silence. There was no noise coming from the bedroom, bathroom or the office. He peered towards the bedroom but couldn't see Kathryn at all.

"Kathryn?" he asked.

It worried him slightly when she didn't answer. He knew she had gone to their quarters… so where was she?

"Kathryn?" he called once again.

No, she definitely wasn't there.

"Chakotay to Janeway." he hailed.

No response. This was extremely strange. It was unlike her not to answer a hail.

"Computer," he stated, "Locate Kathryn Janeway."

"Kathryn Janeway is not aboard the ship." it replied.

"What?" cried Chakotay, "Where is she? When did she leave?"

"Please restate a single question." the Computer told him.

"Where is she?" he shouted.

"Kathryn Janeway is located on Harrell XI." it answered.

Chakotay gulped. Something seriously wasn't right!

=/\=

Kathryn awoke to a bright white light shining directly in her face. The surface she was lying on was hard and cold, almost like metal. It definitely wasn't the bed she'd fell asleep in!

Once her eyes had adjusted, she looked around to see she was in a laboratory, a very familiar laboratory… Hudersona's laboratory! Thankfully, at that moment in time, there was no sigh of Hudersona, or anybody for that matter.

Kathryn began to panic. They were going to do to her what they had just done to Seven. They were going to force her to give birth and take her baby away…

"She's conscious." a woman's voice reported.

Suddenly, two silhouettes appeared from a doorway, the doorway which concealed the room where Seven's baby was being held. The smaller one, the female, approached the Captain. The other one was obviously Hudersona, watching his assistant do all the dirty work.

"Inject her with the serum." he ordered, "A third of the original dosage."

Kathryn tried to move but the restraints that held her down were far too strong.

"_Help me!"_ she thought to herself, _"Someone please help me."_

=/\=

"What do you mean you can't find her?" cried the Commander.

"I'm sorry, sir." said Harry Kim, "But she's not in sensor range."

"The computer has reported she's on the planet!" he exclaimed, "So why can't you find her? Can't we scan the entire planet?"

"Yes, sir." he answered, "But I can't find her combadge or her bio-signs."

"Look again." he ordered before making his was over to Tuvok's station.

Tuvok was frantically doing all he could in order to help. Kathryn was one of his closest friends and even though he felt no emotion, he desperately wanted to help locate her.

"Tuvok." said Chakotay, "Hail the Minister."

"Aye, sir." he answered before doing it and putting the communication link on the viewscreen.

"Commander?" asked the Minister.

"Minister…" started the Commander.

=/\=

The woman was putting the serum into the injection ready to inject it into Kathy's neck. He watched from the top of the room. This is not what he had wanted. When he set this course of events into motion, he never imagined this was going to happen. No matter what she said, it was still his daughter they were about to harm…

The woman went to inject the serum into the Captain's neck. No matter how much she begged her not to do it, the young woman was compelled to do as Hudersona had ordered. Just as she went to inject the serum, a white energy field appeared around the Captain's body and knocked the device out of the woman's hand. This startled not only the woman but the Captain too.

"What the hell?" cried Hudersona who came out of the darkness for the first time.

Suddenly the harness that had enveloped the Captain suddenly broke loose allowing her to scramble to her feet. She stood up on the increasingly cold floor and put as much distance between herself and her captors as she could.

"Stop her!" ordered Hudersona.

The young woman ran up to Kathryn in attempt to stop her from escaping. Kathryn watched on hoping whatever had helped her before would come to her aid again. Right on cue, a minor energy field appeared and knocked the young woman to the floor.

"You pathetic idiot!" cried Hudersona who was extreme annoyed at the fact she had been knocked to the ground.

He swiftly pulled out a particle weapon from his pocket and aimed at her.

"No!" cried Kathryn.

However she was too late to stop. He shot her. Her screams lasted for seconds before her inclined body fell limp to the floor.

Suddenly, the main door of Hudersona's lab flung open and two Starfleet security teams and a medical team swarmed throughout the room, led by Chakotay and Tuvok. Their phasers were at the ready and they were also followed by one of the Harrellian security teams. Hudersona quickly ran down a corridor and was followed by the security teams. However, Kathryn made her way over to the young woman's side. She was surprised to see that she actually was still alive.

"Doctor!" she cried.

He immediately ran over and began to scan the woman. Kathryn held onto her icy cold hand while he frantically attempted to save her. Kathryn saw her eyes flutter and open slightly.

"Hey." she soothed when the woman started to panic, "Its okay. We're here to help."

"Y-You'd help me?" she stuttered, "After w-what I tried to-to do to you?"

Kathryn smiled. "It wasn't your fault." she said, "He forced you."

"I-I'm sorry." she apologised.

"Its okay." she reassured her with a smile, "What's your name?"

"Hedrina." she replied before her eyes closed and her breathing started to become unsteady.

"I-I'm sorry." she said again.

"Its okay." Kathryn guaranteed her.

And with one final breath her body went limp and she passed away. This was confirmed by the way the Doctor closed his tricorder. It broke part of Kathryn's heart. She didn't even look like she twenty years old yet.

"Doctor?" the Captain asked.

The Doctor looked down at his closed tricorder before looking up at the Captain.

"A residual signature from a weapon was eating away at her tissue." he notified her, "She hadn't a chance in hell."

Kathryn couldn't help but let a tear fall down her face. That weapon… it had been designed to kill a victim slowly and painfully… It was the 24th Century, wasn't it?

Chakotay slowly approached her and assisted her to her feet.

"Come on." he whispered, "Let's get you to the ship."

=/\=

After a quick examination by the Doctor, Kathryn headed back to quarters but this time she went with Chakotay. On a happier note, Hudersona had been caught by the authorities and had been taken into custody, but it had come with a price. Janeway didn't expect to sleep much that night and Chakotay knew it.

When they returned to their quarters, Kathryn retired to the sofa while Chakotay went over to the replicator and ordered two large mugs of tea. He then brought them over to Kathryn and handed her one. She inhaled the scent hoping to smell the caffeine. That was the thing about coffee which could cheer her up, but she wasn't sure tea would have the same effect.

"So," started Chakotay, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Kathryn shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.

"There's not really that much to say." she told him.

Chakotay placed his hand on her knee. She smiled weakly before putting her tea down on the coffee table.

"I'll be back in a moment." she told him.

She slowly stood up and made her way over to the bathroom. She stared at the woman looking back at her in the mirror. She looked like hell…

She then began to fill up the sink with water. When it was full enough the water automatically halted. After another moment of staring at her reflection, she looked down at the water. A small reflection of a face looked up at her. It was Q. She smiled weakly.

"Thank you." she whispered.

His reflection winked up at her and smiled weakly before disappearing in a flash.


	22. The Dangerous Dividians

Chapter 22

"Harry!" called Tom, "How's Seven today?"

Harry shook his head. "I'm not sure yet." he told him, "I'm on the way to see her now."

"And how's the baby?" he asked.

Harry smiled. It had taken him and Seven a few days to realise that the baby was actually his son.

"He's fine." he replied, "But he needs to regenerate soon."

"Regenerate?" asked Tom, "I thought he was 85% human?"

"He is." confirmed Harry, "But the other 15% is still regulated by Borg implants so he needs to regenerate."

"But he's only two weeks old!" cried Tom.

"I can't help his physiology Tom." said Harry with a smile.

Tom smiled. "True." he agreed, "I'll see you at duty calls."

Harry nodded before Tom darted off in the direction of B'Elanna's quarters.

Meanwhile, Seven was vigorously configuring a Borg alcove in the Cargo Bay to connect with an electronic cot. When Harry entered the room, he smiled when she turned to face him.

"Good morning." he greeted.

"Morning?" she asked, "What time is it?"

"0500." he replied, "Don't tell me you've been working on it all night?"

Seven smiled.

"So, where is he?" Harry asked.

"Over there." she said referring to a small crib behind a console, "He's asleep."

Harry quietly made his way over to the direction Seven had directed him. He looked over the console to see the baby  
sleeping sweetly while wrapped in a blue teddy bear blanket. Harry watched him for a moment before deciding to leave him be.

"He needs a name." said Harry as he came over to Seven, "I'm fed up of calling him 'the baby'."

Seven nodded. "I have noticed an increase in interest among the crew to discover what his name is."

"Well, you're his mother so it should be your decide." Harry told her.

"But you're his father." she objected, "It should be your choice as well."

Harry smiled. "Alright then," he started, "Let's think baby names."

=/\=

_Kathryn Janeway's Personal Log_

_Okay, it's official. I hate being pregnant! I'm still only twelve and a half months pregnant and even though the maternity uniform still isn't showing off my bump yet, it's itchy, sweaty and super uncomfortable! I seriously don't know how Sam put up with it when she was carrying Naomi. I've got the Doctor lecturing me about taking it easy and I hate the fact I still can't drink coffee. Only another five and a half months left, but God help her if she's late!_

_End Log._

Chakotay and Kathryn entered the Bridge that morning and saw everyone attending to their business. Tom was discussing the overnight helm operations with Lt. Knight, Tuvok was reconfiguring the torpedo tubes for the fourth time that morning and Harry was tapping away on a PADD. A junior officer came over to the Commander and handed him a PADD while Kathryn headed down to her chair.

"Report." she said before sitting down in her chair.

"We're cruising along at Warp 7." reported Tom, "And there's a densely packed region coming up. We'll be there in about four hours."

Kathryn nodded and looked up at Tuvok.

"Weapons and shields are operating normally." said Tuvok, "And there have been no security breaches of any kind all night."

Kathryn smiled and looked over at Ensign Kim. He was completely unaware of her request as he was engrossed it whatever he was going.

"Ensign?" the Captain asked.

He jumped at her voice and looked at her.

"Sorry Captain." he said as he put the PADD down, "All systems are operating within normal parameters and there's nothing new on sensors."

Kathryn smiled and nodded. "Good book?" she asked before turning away and facing the viewscreen.

Harry smiled as he picked up the PADD once again.

"Not exactly." he replied.

"Oh?" asked Tom as he looked around at him, "I'm intrigued now."

Harry smiled. "Seven's asked me to come up with baby names." he told the group.

"Finally!" cried Tom as he returned to his console, "He not going to be just 'baby' anymore!"

=/\=

"It was Croydin!" exclaimed Kathryn, "I should know. I was there!"

"So was I!" argued the Commander, "It was the 17th of June 2364. The match had been postponed for four days due to bad weather in London."

"I know." said the Captain, "Croydin hit the ball so close to the line that Kadak didn't have a chance to react in time and she got the point!"

"Commander Chakotay is correct." confirmed Tuvok.

"Oh?" asked the Captain, "I didn't know you were a fan of tennis."

"My wife was a fan from a young age." said Tuvok, "Ever since I met her, I've followed the sport."

"I know Croydin won!" she cried, "I had a third row seat!"

"Well I think you got the two woman mixed up." argued the Commander, "Because Croydin hit the ball a millimetre over the line and the referee gave the match to Kadak."

Seven entered the Bridge during the middle of the debate.

"How could I get the two women mixed up?" asked the Captain, "Croydin was Human while Kadak was Bolian. It's hard to mix them up!"

"Well it looks like you did." said the Commander with a smile.

Seven approached the Captain and handed her a PADD. She took a quick look before continuing with the debate.

"Croydin won!" she cried.

The Commander sighed. "No she didn't!" he cried, "She beat Kadak in 2365, but not in 2364."

"She beat her in 2364." said the Captain, "I was there. I saw her do it!"

The Commander smiled. "No she didn't." he told her.

"Commander Chakotay is correct Captain." intervened Seven.

"Unbelievable!" she cried, "Munity from all corners."

"Why don't we settle this once and for all." suggested the Commander, "Computer, who won the Wimbledon Tennis match between Claire Croydin and Kadak in the year 2364?"

"The winner was Claire Croydin." answered the Computer.

The Captain smiled and looked around at Tuvok, Seven and Chakotay.

"I told you." she said.

Chakotay frowned but had to admit he was wrong. He nodded at the Captain whose smile was now beaming with satisfaction.

"Yes, Seven?" she asked when she looked up at her.

"Captain." she said, "We are approaching Devidian space."

"Devidian?" she asked while returning to look at the PADD.

"They're a savage humanoid race much like how the Cardassians in the Alpha Quadrant were a few decades ago." she informed them, "We should attempt to avoid them at all costs."

Kathryn nodded but when she looked at the data on the PADD, her eyes widened at the sight of the size of their space.

"It's over 120 light-years wide!" she cried.

"120?" asked Chakotay, "That would take us well over a month to get through it!"

"And more than a year to get around it!" continued the Captain.

"Captain." said Seven, "I recommend going around it. If we are caught trespassing in their space they will not be lenient."

Kathryn sighed and rubbed her head.

"Could we try diplomacy at all?" she asked.

"I wouldn't recommend it." she said, "But I suppose you could try it."

Kathryn nodded slightly and considered it. Would it be worth the risk?

"How long until we reach the border?" she asked.

Tom looked at his console. "Two hours at Warp 6." he replied.

Kathryn looked around at the Commander and bit her lip slightly.

"Continue course." she ordered.

=/\=

Kathryn began pacing up and down the Bridge. She had just made first contact with the Devidians. Seven was right when she said they were like Cardassians. They were a very proud and warlike race who also seemed like they could be quite violent and cruel to other.

The Captain had also discovered duribg their brief communiqué that they were at war with a neighbouring species called the Vickers. That put Voyager in an extremely dangerous situation but they needed the passage.

"Captain." reported Tuvok, "We are being hailed by an approaching warship."

"Go to Yellow Alert." she ordered, "On screen."

The image of a male Devidian appeared on the screen. His skin was a deep concrete grey and he had two black lines on either side of his eyes which covered his temples. His eyes were also a lighter shade of grey and he didn't smile at all.

"My name is Maddox of the Devidian Military Fourth Order." he said in an almost monotone voice, "Congratulations Janeway. You have been granted passage though our space. You will stay to the outskirts of space and will not attempt to explore our space. You will also not assist the Vickers in any way. If you do it will be seen as an act of aggression against us. My navigator is transmitting the course you will follow to you now."

The communication then ended abruptly.

"Friendly bunch." commented Tom.

"Too friendly." said Seven.

"What?" asked the Captain.

Seven looked at her. "He's not like any Devidian I've ever encountered."

Kathryn gulped. "Maybe now they're in a war, they don't mind neutral ships." she suggested.

Seven looked back at the warship on the viewscreen. "Unlikely." she said.

"I've got the course." reported Tom, "At Warp 9 we should be through their space in five weeks and three days."

Janeway bit her lip. This was her last chance to play it safe and go the long way around.

"Engage." she ordered.

=/\=

They had been travelling through Devidian space for 12 hours with no problems so far. Kathryn did keep going through the decision in her mind, should she have taken the long safe route home or was it right to take the short dangerous one?

Suddenly Harry's console started pinging uncontrollably. This caught everyone's attention.

"We are being approached by a Devidian ship." he reported, "It's small, no bigger than a shuttlecraft."

"They're hailing us, Captain." said Tuvok.

"On screen." ordered Janeway.

The face of a male Devidian appeared on the screen. Kathryn stood up waiting to see if he was going to speak first.

"Captain Janeway?" he asked.

"This is Janeway." she answered.

"I must board your ship immediately!" he said, "It's a matter of some urgency!"

Kathryn looked over at Chakotay. She didn't know if this was part of a deception or if he was being sincere. She looked back at the alien on the viewscreen. He did look sincere but that doesn't mean he actually was.

She signalled Tuvok to mute the channel.

"Seven?" she asked, "What do you think?"

"This had to be some sort of deception." she said.

Kathryn looked back at Tuvok and nodded. He understood and reactivated the communication on the channel.

"I'll take it under consideration, but first…" she started.

"There's no time!" he cried, "Your ship is in immediate danger Captain! Let me help, please!"

Kathryn looked at Chakotay. She was seriously unsure whether to trust him or not. She hoped Chakotay would be able to help but he looked as unsure as she felt.

"Captain, I can't discuss this over the channel." he informed her, "Please, let me come aboard."

Kathryn sighed and nodded.

"Very well." she agreed, "Mr. Tuvok, go to Transporter Room 3 to meet out guest."

"Thank-you Captain." he replied, "Computer, initiate self destruct."

"What the hell are you doing?" she cried.

The channel suddenly closed and on the viewscreen the crew saw the Devidian's engines start to detonate.

"Transporter Room 3!" yelled the Captain, "Get him out of there, now!"


	23. Junior Officers

Chapter 23

"Here you go." Neelix said while serving drinks to four junior crew members sat on the sofa's in the Mess Hall.

The youngest one, Ensign Adele Mabberly, smiled at him.

"Thanks Neelix." said the male to her left, a Lt. John Knight.

Neelix smiled at them all before returning to his duties. The two others, Ensign Indi Charlotta and Ensign Nick Burley, picked up their drinks off the table.

"Hey John." said Charlotta, "Have you heard any more about that alien whose ship was destroyed this morning?"

John shook his head. "My shift ended before that happened."

"Do you have any idea why he came here?" asked Adele.

"No." replied John.

"I heard he destroyed his own ship." said Nick.

"Now, why would he do that?" asked John who didn't believe that rumor for a second.

Nick shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know." he said, "But that's what I heard."

=/\=

Kathryn was sat down in her quarters staring helplessly out into space. For that moment, Voyager was at a dead stop. The alien from the ship was in a serious condition in Sick Bay after being caught in the explosion. He was the main reason why she'd refused to continue course. He'd risked his life to get on board so he at least needed to be heard once he'd recovered.

She turned her head when her quarters' door opened and Chakotay strolled in.

"Where have you been?" she asked.

He sighed and came to join her on the sofa. "Tom organised a poker tournament on the Holodeck." he told her.

"Poker?" she questioned, "I didn't know you were into poker."

Chakotay rolled his eyes. "I'm not." he admitted, "But it was better that supervising the junior officer night shift."

Kathryn frowned. "What's wrong with the junior officers?" she enquired.

"They're always trying to please me." said Chakotay, "It gets really annoying."

"You're their CO." she reminded him, "Of course they're trying to please you."

Chakotay smiled and leant in to kiss her. She had no objection and let his hands entangle around her.

"Sick Bay to Janeway." hailed the Doctor.

Janeway sighed and pulled away.

"One day we won't be interrupted." she said to Chakotay before tapping her combadge, "Yes Doctor?"

"The alien has regained consciousness." he replied.

Janeway looked over at Chakotay. "We're on our way." she informed the Doctor.

=/\=

Kathryn and Chakotay entered Sick Bay minutes later to see a very eager alien awaiting their arrival. There was a large bruise-like patch on his forehead that came from the destruction of his vessel. The Doctor had tried to heal it fully but the alien's body was slightly immune to their technology.

"Belated welcome aboard." greeted the Captain as she approached the biobed.

The alien's stare immediately fell to her lower abdomen.

"You're with child." he stated.

Kathryn glared at him. "Does that bother you?" she asked.

The alien bit his lip. "Captain, you should not be here in our space." he told her, "You're all in great danger!"

"Look, Mr…?" she started.

"Heblin." he replied, "Mr. Heblin."

She nodded. "Well Mr. Heblin, I understand you are at war." she informed him, "But we understood that when we entered your space."

Heblin's fists started clench. "You're so naïve!" he cried, "Don't you understand the nature of my people?"

Kathryn and Chakotay were slightly taken back by his outburst but they could see it was more out of frustration rather than anger.

"No." admitted the Captain, "I don't understand."

"Most species know to avoid us." said Heblin as he stood up and started to aimlessly wander around the console in the centre of the room, "But you're from so far away… You don't understand what my people are like."

"Then tell us." said the Commander.

"We're…evil." he stated after a slight hesitation, "That's the best word to describe us."

Kathryn gulped. She really didn't like where she imagined this story was heading.

"We are… a warlike race." he continued, "And most of my people only understand violence and cruelty. Don't you understand why they granted you passage though our space? It's a trap, Captain!"

That was the moment when Kathryn felt she had made an enormous mistake deciding to take the shorter route.

"What kind of trap?" she asked.

"My species despise outsiders in our space." he informed them, "We have a sensor grid which monitors every section of it. When we detect outsiders, border controls are sent to intercept the vessel, seize the crew and either kill them or deliver them to torture or labour stations."

"But we were granted passage through your space." said Chakotay.

The alien shook his head. "A trap." he repeated, "When they detect you are far enough in our space and unable to escape, they will intercept you."

The Captain's eyes widened. This was trouble on the largest of scales.

"Janeway to Bridge." she hailed, "Mr. Paris, set a course out of Devidian space, warp 9."

"No." cried Heblin, "Set a course for Grid 426." he told her, "The sensor grid is extremely weak there!"

Kathryn looked at Chakotay. They both seemed to trust the alien considering he had risked his life to get to them.

"Mr Paris, did you hear that?" she asked over the com.

"Yes Captain." he replied.

"Set a course." she ordered.

=/\=

Voyager had been in Grid 426 for just over two hours. Heblin had been working with Seven of Nine for at least half that time in order to determine if they had been detected yet, so far, so good. Only the senior officers knew the main details of what was happening because the Captain had classified it as a 'high rank' mission, meaning only the highest ranking officer were on a need-to-know basis.

"John!" called Ensign Mabberly as Lt. Knight approached her, "Do you have any idea what's going on?"

The Lieutenant shook his head. "Not a clue." he said, "Look I gotta go, Lt. Paris had ordered me to help Lt. Torres' team to get the warp engines up to peak efficiency."

"What for?" she asked as her curiosity got the best of her.

He shook his head. "No idea." he said, "Sorry Addy, I gotta go!"

Lt. Knight darted off down the corridor while Adele returned to her duties. She headed towards the turbolift in order to reach Sick Bay. When she approached the main corridor, she saw two armed security guards outside the doors. She didn't know the older one too well but she knew the other. It was her friend Ensign Burley.

"Nick?" she asked as she walked closer towards him.

He was stood at full attention but moved his head to look around at her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I'm under orders." he replied.

She smiled at him and attempted to enter Sick Bay. He quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the door.

"Sorry Addy." he said, "I can't allow you to go in there."

"Why not?" she asked, slightly infuriated because she couldn't get to her duty station.

"Captain's orders." he told her, "I can't let anyone but senior officers in there."

She rolled her eyes. "So what am I supposed to do?" she asked.

"Come with us." replied a voice which seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Adele swiftly turned around to see the Captain and Commander exiting Sick Bay.

"Captain!" she cried as she quickly stood to attention.

"I said come with us, Ensign." repeated the Captain.

Ensign Mabberly followed in the Captain and Commander's wake, honoured to have been noticed by the command team. She followed them both into the turbolift and up to the Bridge. As she stood with them in the lift, she couldn't help but notice the anxiety on their faces. She also couldn't help but admire the Captain who was within inches of her. She was just under thirteen months pregnant and she looked incredibly tired yet she was still continuing forcefully with her duties.

She continued to follow the command team into the Captain's ready room. Kathryn instantly took a seat behind her desk while the Commander took up position slightly behind Adele. It was safe to say the Adele was slightly nervous about being in the ready room. She'd never been alone with anybody higher than the Doctor before so to be with both of the command team was slightly unnerving.

"Ensign." said the Captain after a moment, "You grew up Turkana IV, did you not?"

Adele nodded. "Yes Captain." she replied.

The Captain looked up at the fragile young woman who stood before her. She was quite small for her age and still thin.

"So, you've been in dangerous situations before?" asked Kathryn.

"Yes Captain." replied the Ensign who was wondering where the conversation was heading.

"Now Ensign," started the Captain who sat up straight at her desk, "What you're about to hear doesn't go passed these four walls, understand?"

She nodded.

"There's a mission I'd like you to do for us." she informed her.

"A mission?" she asked with a hint of excitement.

Kathryn nodded. "Report to the Breifing Room and 1500 hours." she ordered, "We'll inform you more at that time."

"Aye, Captain." she agreed.

"Dismissed." said the Captain.

Adele exited the room, but not before the Captain reminded her once again not to tell a soul about their meeting. Chakotay glanced over the Captain as soon as Ensign Mabberly had left.

"How old is she?" she asked.

"Twenty two." replied Kathryn, "She's twenty three next month."

Chakotay sighed. "I hope she has the chance to get there." he said.

"Me too…" said the Captain with a sigh, "Me too…"

=/\=

Adele couldn't describe how nervous she felt as she waited outside the Briefing Room. Behind the doors were the entire Bridge crew and out of all the crew members on board, she'd been selected to go on a mission. She couldn't believe it...

"Are you okay, Ensign?" asked Chakotay as he approached her from behind.

She jumped at the sound of his voice. "Oh, Commander." she said.

"Sorry." he apologized, "I didn't mean to startle you."

She nodded at the man who towered over her.

"Ready to go in?" he asked with a smile.

She bit her lip and nodded. She sighed as he led her through the doors. She turned around the corner into the main section of the room. She jumped at the sight of a strange looking alien sitting to the right of the Captain.

The Captain smiled weakly at her. "Sit down Ensign." she said.

Adele did as ordered and briefly looked around at the table. It turns out the entire senior staff weren't there, just the Captain, Commander, the Doctor, Commander Tuvok and the alien.

"Ensign Mabberly, this is Heblin, Second in Command of the Devidian Military Order." introduced the Captain.

Heblin nodded at the woman sat opposite him.

"He's provided us with vital information about their Military movements who are determined to… destroy us." the Captain informed her.

She gulped.

"In return for the information, we've agreed to help Heblin return home." the Captain informed her.

"At 0400 hours, Voyager will set course for our border which is about ten light years from here." continued Heblin, "I will remain in one of your shuttles in order to return home since my own vessel was destroyed."

Adele frowned. "Where do I come into this?" she asked.

The Captain sighed. "Across the Devidian border is a planet called Vickerais, a planet which is at war with the Devidians."

"Devidians never leave our space unless they're on a scout mission to spy on them..." Heblin informed her, "And it's unlikely for us to return… empty handed."

Adele was slowly started to understand. 'Empty handed' meant 'without a hostage'.

"That's where you come in." resumed the Chakotay, "You grew up in a place of extreme violence and with a little dermal stimulation, you'd pass as a Vickers."

She looked back over at the Captain. "So what do you want me to do?" she asked.

"When we reach the border, you and Heblin will head towards the planet." informed the Captain.

"When we get passed the military control," continued Heblin, "I'll send you back in an escape pod. If you manage to get past Grid 425 without being detected, you'll be okay."

"Grid 425?" asked Adele.

Heblin sighed. "The grid sensitivity is very strong there." he told her, "I'll attempt to mask your signature and once you're past there, you should be safe."

Adele nodded.

"Ensign." said the Captain, "I'm not ordering you on this mission. It's completely voluntary."

"I understand Captain." she said, "But if it helps Voyager get to safety, I'm all for it."

Kathryn smiled. "Report to Sick Bay at 0200 hours." ordered the Captain, "Dismissed."

Adele left while the rest of the table sat in complete silence.

"She's so young." commented Heblin after a moment.

Kathryn bit her lip and turned to look at Chakotay. He was a million light years away, deep in thought.

"Chakotay?" she asked.

He looked up. "Sorry." he said, "This just reminds me of the mission the Enterprise-D sent that young Bajoran woman on in 2370."

Kathryn recalled the mission in her mind.

"Well," she said, "I'm hoping this one will be a happier ending."

"Me too…" said the Commander.


	24. Missing In Action

Chapter 24

Kathryn couldn't describe her anxiety as she saw Ensign Mabberly entering the Shuttle Bay that morning. She was dressing in ripped black half cut trousers and a white puffy shirt which was covered in dust and specks of 'blood'. Her hair also was scraggy and tied in a loose bun.

Her features were also changed to resemble the Vickers race. She had small gem like ridges on her temples and on the sides of her hands and her wrists. The Doctor had also made some bruising and cuts on her open skin. The most apparent was the large 'cut' on her forehead and her black eye.

"Captain." she smiled as she approached her.

"Ensign." she acknowledged, "Good luck."

"Thank you." she said before entering the shuttle.

The shuttle's doors closed and exited the Bay not long after. When it was complete, Janeway contacted the Bridge and ordered Tom to set a course for the border. At top warp it would take nine hours to reach it, nine hours where the Ensign and Heblin would wait in the 'blind spot' of the Devidian sensor net. An unnerving nine hours, to say the least.

=/\=

The Captain couldn't relax easily that night. Chakotay had done everything possible to help her but even he had to admit that any type of relaxation was far from their grasp.

"Chakotay?" asked Kathryn, "Did I do the right thing?"

He looked up from his book and glanced over at her.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Should I have left Ensign Mabberly with Heblin in Devidian space?" she asked.

He sighed to try and thing of an appropriate response.

"I can understand why you did." he said after a moment.

"That didn't answer my question." she said.

Chakotay smiled weakly at her. Truth be told, he didn't know how to answer that question.

=/\=

Six hours had passed and there was still no word from Voyager. Heblin had been monitoring them as closely as he could, making sure to mask any transmissions picked up by the sensor net. Luckily the patrol ships still hadn't realised they were leaving their space and even more fortunately, they also still hadn't detected their shuttle adrift in the blind spot.

The sound of the Adele stirring from her slumber caused him to look around. He smiled briefly at her before returning to monitor his console. Adele quickly pulled herself together and took her seat at the other console.

For minutes she debated whether or not to commence a conversation with him. She kept looking back over her shoulder to see if he would start a conversation but he was engrossed in his work. Seconds turned into minutes but after a while she gave into her curiosity.

"Why did you do it?" she asked.

He looked around at her. "I'm sorry?" he asked.

"Why did you risk your rank in the Military… and your life by helping Voyager?"

He sighed. "You didn't know any better than to ask for safe passage." he told her, "And I didn't want you to be destroyed for just trying to reach your home."

Adele frowned. The alien smiled at her confusion.

"Conflict has destroyed my people, physically and mentally." he told her, "They're obsessed with killing and power."

"But you aren't?" she asked.

He shook his head. "My people need peace." he said, "And I hope one day they will achieve it."

She liked his attitude but there was still something she didn't understand.

"If you're not obsessed with killing, why are you Second in Command of your Military?" she asked.

He looked down at the uniform concealing his body while thinking for a suitable response to her query.

"When we reach a certain age, we are made to join the Military." he told her, "I realised from a young age that the amount of power you get in the Military is incredible. I decided to do all I could to climb the ladder in order to use that power to help others, like yourselves. If my experience can help people like Voyager or the Vickers, I have served my purpose."

"The Vickers?" she questioned, "You help them?"

He nodded while still monitoring Voyager on his console.

"I pass on information in order to tell them about upcoming attacks." he told her.

He turned briefly turned around to see her frowning at him.

"I don't consider myself a traitor, if that's what you're thinking." he informed her, "My information has saved countless lives of innocent people."

"But…Isn't it dangerous?" she asked, "If you got caught…"

"Yes, its dangerous." he interrupted, "But I'd rather help save lives rather than aid in the destruction of so many people."

Adele smiled at him but he didn't return the favour.

"It's the right thing to do, you know?" she said after a moment.

He smiled weakly. "Perhaps." he said.

=/\=

Heblin's smile grew when he saw that Voyager had just crossed the border of their space.

"That's it!" he exclaimed, "They're safe."

Adele smiled. Now it was her turn to play a part in this mission.

"You ready?" he asked.

She gulped and nodded. It had been a long time since she had been in that sort of danger so it was safe to say that she was starting to get nervous.

Heblin taped the console in front of him and set a course for his home planet.

"It won't be long until we're detected." he informed Adele, "Are you ready?"

She nodded. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be." she told him.

=/\=

_Captain's Log_

_It's been 14 hours since our scheduled rendezvous with Ensign Mabberly. I'm starting to get concerned. We've agreed not to resume course until contacted by Heblin and until we learn the fate of the Ensign. I'm hoping that they've just been delayed but for the moment, I severely doubt it._

_End Log._

"Captain, I'm picking up a transmission." reported Tuvok, "It's originating from within Devidian space."

"Is it Ensign Mabberly?" she asked.

"No." he replied, "It seems to be originating from a station ten light years away from the main planet. It's been encoded."

Kathryn sighed. "Match frequency and put it on screen." she ordered.

It took a moment for Tuvok to reconfigure the channel but as soon as he had, he put the transmission on screen. It was Heblin.

"Many thanks Captain." his jovial voice boomed, "I have returned home. Please, give thanks to Ensign Mabberly for me."

The Captain gulped. She couldn't because her whereabouts were still unknown. Heblin noticed the lack of enthusiasm on the Captain's face and his smile dropped.

"Please tell me she returned." he whispered.

The Captain sighed and shook her head.

"I don't understand…" he cried, "I masked her escape pod's signature through Grid 425, she wasn't detected!"

"She's not here Heblin." confirmed the Captain.

He shook his head in disbelief.

"None of our patrol vessels have intercepted her vessel." he told her, "Neither has her vessel been detected."

The Captain didn't know what else to do apart from declare her missing and presumed dead, a declaration she desperately didn't want to make.

"Captain…" started Heblin, "I am so sorry…"

The Captain nodded in attempt to stop her tears.

"Good luck to you Heblin." she said, "Voyager out."

The transmission ended abruptly while the atmosphere on the Bridge intensified. Everyone was wounded by the thought of her death, especially the Captain. She had wondered whether or not to send her on that mission and her decision had resulted in the presumed death of a fine young officer.

"Make a note in the ship's log." she ordered, "Ensign Adele Mabberly, presumed Killed in Action at 1800 hours."

The Captain took her seat and sighed. Chakotay could see the grief all over her face. It wasn't her fault yet he could tell that she blamed herself.

"Lieutenant Paris, get us out of here." she ordered, "Warp 6."

"Aye Captain." he replied.

=/\=

It had been four days since Adele Mabberly's presumed death. Her memorial service had been conducted two days beforehand and the entire crew had been affected, especially her friends. Lt. Burley and Ensign Indi had had to take a few days off in order to deal with the blow, and no matter how much Lt. Knight tried to convince himself he was okay, everyone around him could tell he'd taken the new pretty hard. Chakotay had also managed to make the Captain realise it wasn't her fault. She still felt slightly guilty but she had to understand that it came with the job.

Life on Voyager was slowly starting to return to normal. Well, as normal as life on Voyager could be.

As Kathryn entered the Bridge that morning, she noticed that Harry was still not on the Bridge.

"Where's Harry?" she asked as she sat down in her chair.

Chakotay smiled. "He's bringing someone up to meet us." he told her.

Kathryn frowned. "Who?" she asked.

Tom, who had been watching the Commander and Captain, quickly turned back to the helm when the Captain looked over at him. The Captain noticed his smug grin and raised her eyebrow.

"Lieutenant?" she asked with a smile, realising they were both refusing to tell her who Harry was bringing up.

"Sorry Captain." he said, refusing to make eye contact with her.

Kathryn was about to object but the sound of the turbolift doors caught her attention. She turned around to see Ensign Kim and Seven of Nine entering the Bridge, with Ensign Kim holding his baby boy. The Captain's smile grew intensely.

"Captain." said Harry with a smile.

"Ensign." she said, "Seven."

"Captain," said Harry, "May I introduce Magnus John."

The Captain smiled and looked over at Seven. "Magnus John?" she asked.

She smiled. "Magnus to honour my father." she informed the Captain, "And John to honour Ensign Kim's father."

Kathryn smiled and nodded. "Fair enough." she said.

=/\=

The Captain and Commander retired back to their quarters after their shift. The Captain was over the moon considering she had been holding baby Magnus nearly all afternoon. However, part of her was uneasy about it. She knew that when her baby was born, she wouldn't be able to hold her so holding Magnus was a very bittersweet moment.

While Chakotay was replicating dinner, Kathryn slowly entered the room Chakotay had decorated for the baby. As she looked at all the little trinkets, tears started to form in her eyes. If the Q got their way, her daughter would never even see this room, let alone live in it. She had debated whether to ask Chakotay to return it back to how it was. It seemed pointless to keep it as the baby's room if she would never be able to use it.

"Kathryn." called Chakotay.

She sighed and returned to the returned to the dinning area. Maybe the room was allowing her to cling onto a dream, one she hoped she would be able to make a reality.

=/\=

She stumbled through the debris desperately trying to reach the console. She'd been playing hide and seek with warships for days and so far she'd only had a direct confrontation once. Luckily the torpedo which hit her miniature vessel didn't destroy it but she was in desperate need of assistance.

"Okay, I've had enough of this!" cried a voice which appeared from behind her, "You can't hide in here forever."

The young woman turned her head to see a man in a red Starfleet uniform sitting behind her.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Q." he replied, "And I've come to help you get home Adele."

"How do you know my…?" she started.

However, her sentence was cut short by a large rumble as the asteroid she was hidden in was shot at. The entire cavern was starting to destabilise and her vessel started shaking uncontrollably. A large explosion from the console she was sat at ignited and caught her directly in the face, causing her to fly back into Q's arms.

"Damn!" he swore.

He held the young woman in his one arm and snapped his fingers. He peered out of the window but didn't see what he was hoping too… They were nowhere near Voyager.

"Oi, computer thing, scan for Voyager." he ordered.

"Unable to comply." it replied, "Scanners are offline."

"Then bring them online!" he shouted.

"Unable to comply, scanners are…"

"Oh, never mind!" he exclaimed.

He looked down at the woman before him. She was bleeding massively and for some bizarre reason, he hadn't got the energy to make another transport with his powers. He looked up out of the window and saw another Devidian warship heading towards him. He tried snapping his fingers again but his powers were inoperable.

"Honestly!" he cried, "What the hell is happening?"

Then it dawned on him… the Devidians. They were the reason he couldn't use his powers… Now they were in trouble!


	25. Hallucinations

Chapter 25

He was desperately trying to be brave but the truth of the matter was, he was absolutely petrified. After spending many millennia parading around the galaxy, was his existence about to come to an end in a small box of a space craft manufactured by a species of limited intelligence?

Q looked down at the fragile young woman in his arms. Her breathing was erratic and her pulse was racing. She was already dying and, instead of delivering her to safety as he had planned, he was about to join her. He looked up out of the window at the large Devidian warship charging at them. He could tell that it was seconds away from blowing them into smithereens. He'd never had to face death before so the experience filled his newly mortal body with absolute dread. In the split seconds before his presumed death, Q found himself thinking about his son, Q Junior. He'd only recently separated with his mother who had disowned him for his reckless behaviour so after his death, Junior would have no one… and then there was his unborn human daughter. Now he had no chance to help Kathy keep her away from the Continuum, not like he'd be able to do anything anyway…

He looked down at Adele once again. Her blood was starting to stain her clothes and her once golden locks. He saw her eyes start to twitch and bit his lip. He didn't want her to wake up now, not when she was only moments away from her death. He started to rock her back in forth hoping that she wouldn't come around seconds before her destruction. He looked up at the still approaching warship. They had seconds left… if they were lucky…

=/\=

Kathryn Janeway awoke quite early in the morning. She was in terrible discomfort thanks to her unborn baby who seemed to be playing football in her womb. Once her eyes had adjusted to the darkened room and she could vaguely make out the shapes of everything around her, she slowly got up and made her way into the living area. As she sat down, she heard Chakotay start to stir. She sighed considering she had tried so hard not to disturb him yet she had obviously failed.

She began stroking her thirteen month old bump. The thought of not being able to see her daughter grow up still hurt her immensely. She'd grow up in the Continuum, learning how to become arrogant and egotistical like every other Q in the universe. She probably wouldn't even know she was her birth mother, and that thought hurt her, a lot more than she was willing to admit to herself.

"Kathryn?" asked Chakotay as he popped his head around the corner.

She could barely make out his face in the light but she could see his figure standing in the doorway.

"It's 0300 hours." he said, "Are you okay?"

She nodded which he could just about make out in the light emanating from the passing stars.

"Computer, lights." he ordered, "50% of normal."

The light suddenly responded and lit the room up. Chakotay made his was over and sat down next to her. He could tell she was in a bit of discomfort however, he also knew there was absolutely nothing he could do to help. He sighed and weakly smiled at her. She returned the favour and entwined her fingers between his. She then rested her head on his shoulder. Just being with him gave her a pleasure like no other. She was so lucky to have him, just as he was lucky to have her.

=/\=

As Tom Paris got ready that morning, he could help but feel like he was being watched. He had examined his living space many times but his feeling couldn't be explained. He entered the bathroom in his quarters and made his way over to the sink. He filled it up and sunk his hands into the liquid. He sighed as the heat started to speak over his hands and up his arms. After a moment once the effect had worn off, he shook his head and looked at his reflection in the mirror. The person who was staring back looked like hell. His hair had exploded and he had huge black bags under his eyes.

"Burning the midnight oil, my friend?" he asked his reflection.

He laughed off the moment and continued to wash his face.

"_Yes._" replied an unfamiliar voice, "_Don't you remember?"_

Tom flinched suddenly and looked around. There was nobody there yet he knew for a fact he had heard someone reply to his rhetorical question.

"Who's there?" he asked.

He constantly looked around expecting someone to pop out of somewhere and laugh in his face. However, nobody did, neither did anyone respond to his question. He sighed and continued to wash himself. The sound of his door chime made him jump. He slowly exited the bathroom without taking his eyes off the door.

"Come in." he replied.

However, the door didn't open. He slowly walked over to the door and manually opened the door. He stuck his head out to see a vaguely empty corridor.

"What the…?" he started.

He continued to re-examine the door and the inside of his quarters. He knew for a fact the door had chimed. This had to be someone playing a practical joke.

"Tom?" asked a voice from behind him while he was standing in the corridor.

He jumped and swiftly turned around to see Harry looking at him like he'd lost the plot.

"Harry?" he asked in a state of disbelief, "It was you, wasn't it?"

Harry frowned. "What was me?" he asked.

"Don't played stupid with me." said Tom, "It was you who just rung the doorbell, wasn't it?"

Harry shook his head. "I've just come from Cargo Bay 2." he replied, "Are you alright?"

Tom smiled and entered his quarters. "I am now." he replied, "You know for a moment, you really had me going."

Harry followed Tom inside his quarters as he started to go back into his bedroom.

"With what?" he asked once again.

Tom smiled and shook his head at Harry.

"You're a really bad liar, you know?"

=/\=

The Bridge that morning was fairly normal. Everyone was going about their normal business, all except Kathryn. Every time she attempted to read a report or examine data, her daughter would decide to play another football match. She sighed as another match inside her womb kicked off. She closed her eyes for a moment and rested her head on the back of her chair, hoping to block out the discomfort. Chakotay looked around and smiled weakly to himself.

"Must be one hell of a tournament." he commented.

Kathryn turned her head and looked at him.

"Its baby verses Mommy." she said.

Chakotay smiled. "Do I take it baby's winning?" he asked.

She smiled and extended her hand out to him. He locked his fingers around hers and smiled.

"Only four more months." he reminded her.

Kathryn bit her lip and looked down at her stomach. It was such a bittersweet thought. Four months until she'd be back to normal non-pregnant Kathryn yet it was four months until she had to say goodbye to her baby… forever.

"Sorry." said Chakotay when he realised his words had upset her.

She shook her head and smiled weakly. "It's not your fault." she told him, "It's just a harsh reality I have to remember."

=/\=

Q couldn't believe his luck. The escape pod had definitely been hit with a disrupter yet it was still intact. The same couldn't be said for Adele though. Q almost cried at the fact he couldn't help her. She'd managed to survive for days yet now he had turned up; she was fighting for her life.

He looked up out of the window. He could clearly see the warship… in pieces. He had completely missed what had happened because he had ducked in hope to 'avoid' the torpedoes thanks to some out-dated human reflex. He looked out of a window to his left but still saw nothing but empty space. He couldn't understand any of it, however, that was about to change. Suddenly, the half-functioning console before him started to ping. He quickly examined the technology and clicked a button which activated a com channel on the monitor in front of him.

"Who are you?" he asked the alien whose face appeared on the screen.

The alien frowned. He wasn't the person he expected to answer his hail.

"I'm Heblin." he replied, "Who the hell are you and where's Adele?"

"I'm Q." he replied, "Where are you transmitting from?"

"You're a Q?" Heblin asked in a state of minor shock, "No wonder they've activated the suppression field!"

"Yeah, Yeah!" moaned Q, "Where are you, hedgehog?"

Heblin rolled his eyes at Q's comment. "Real original." he said sarcastically, "Like I haven't heard that before."

"Whatever hedgehog, you haven't answered my question." he reminded him, "Where are you?"

"Look to your right." he replied.

Q looked to his right yet only saw broken consoles and debris. Heblin, who could see him through the com channel, rolled his eyes.

"Out the window, genius!" he cried.

Q looked up and saw a huge Devidian warship parallel to the pod. His eyes widened when he saw the marking on the hull.

"Second in Command?" he asked, "Is it genuine, or did you steal it?"

"Its genuine." he replied, "Now answer my question. Where is Adele?"

Q looked down at the young woman who was still being cradled in his arms. He looked back at the monitor, directly into Heblin's eyes.

"Commander Hedgehog," he started, "I take it your _marvellous _ship had medical facilities, or the way to deactivate your pathetic suppression field?"

Heblin nodded. "Medical facilities." he confirmed, "As for the suppression field, only Command Centre can do that."

"Well, do me a favour and beam us to your Sick Bay." he said, "And then I can get Adele home."

Heblin's eyes widened. "You've come to help her?" he asked.

"Yes." replied Q, "And I apologise for what my son did to your Military last month."

"So… you're not here to disrupt it again…?" he started to ask.

"Look Hedgehog." interrupted Q, "I'll be happy to answer all your pathetic questions as soon as Adele's injuries are taken care of."

=/\=

As Tom continued to stare at the console before him, he started to see bizarre shapes appear in the corner of his eyes, yet as soon as he moved to see what they were, they disappeared completely. Kathryn and Chakotay had noticed that he seemed more on edge than usual but they put it down to fatigue considering the night before he had been hosting a poker tournament until well after 0200 hours.

"Lieutenant Paris," Janeway said after a moment, "What's our present heading?"

Tom turned slightly at her query before checking his console for the coordinated.

"469, no… 498 mark 29 by 467." he replied.

Chakotay looked down at the Lieutenant whose legs were shaking considerably.

"Are you alright, Lieutenant?" asked the Commander.

"Yes… Yes, sir." he answered.

Chakotay turned to Kathryn who also seemed to be getting concerned. After another moment, she shook her head as she dismissed it to be anything else but fatigue.

Tom, however, had started to worry about himself. He kept seeing things and hearing the same sinister voice hiss in his ears as he did earlier that morning. He'd tried to tell himself he was just tired yet he'd never felt like that before.

After another moment, he decided he had had enough of slowly loosing his mind on the Bridge.

"Captain." he said, "Permission to go to my quarters?"

Kathryn frowned. "Is there a problem, Lieutenant?" she asked.

He gulped. "I'm not feeling too well." he replied.

Chakotay looked up at him. "Maybe you should go to Sick Bay." he suggested.

"No, sir." he said, "I'll go to my quarter's... with your permission, Capain." he said.

Kathryn nodded at him. "Granted Lieutenant." she said.

He nodded and headed straight for the turbolift. Once inside, he ordered for his quarters. As the turbolift started to move, he felt his body start to shake. He couldn't tell whether it was from fear or whether it was because he was so tired.

"_Pathetic Thomas." _hissed the voice, however this time it sounded all too familiar.

"_You've failed as being a good officer." _it said, _"Just like I knew you always would."_

Tom's fisted started to clench. He knew that particular voice all too well… It was his father's.

"_You're pathetic." _it cried, "_Weak, useless…"_

"Shut up!" he cried, "Shut up and get out of my head!"

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked down to see a hand. Suddenly, his body spun around by the hand and he was stood face-to-face with the one person in the entire universe he didn't want to see. He couldn't understand how it was possible but he couldn't say it wasn't real.

"Dad." he declared.

"So weak." his father said to him, "Pathetic."

"SHUT UP!" Tom cried.

Suddenly the turbolift doors opened which made him jump half a mile. He slowly walked out and examined his surroundings. His father was nowhere to be seen. As Tom made his way to his quarters, he couldn't get the encounter out of his mind.

"Did I imagine it?" he asked himself once he reached his quarters, "Surely he wasn't real…"

"Not real?" shouted a voice from behind him, "Wow Thomas! Now I can safely say you are stupid as well."

Tom frowned. "Who are you?" he asked.

His father scoffed. "Did you honestly believe you'd escape me, even out here?"

Tom gulped. "You're not real." he said.

He father sneered before approaching him and smacking his across the face which sent Tom to the floor.

"I think you'll find I am…son."


	26. Baby's First Words

Chapter 26

It had been over a month since his father had appeared. Tom was scared he was loosing his mind because he knew for a fact that nobody else could see him. The crew had noticed a considerable change in his behaviour too. He didn't socialise, he didn't speak to anyone while on duty, he didn't even pay any attention to B'Elanna. Kathryn was worried that something was wrong but the last thing she had on her mind was Tom. She was now fifteen months pregnant and it was dawning on her that soon her daughter would be taken away...forever.

She couldn't help but wonder what Q's original plan's would have been if she had consented to have his baby. Had he always intended for her to leave Voyager to raise the child with him?

As the Captain approached the Bridge that morning, she saw Seven and Harry exiting the turbolift arm-in-arm. She couldn't help but smile at that. She was glad that Magnus had acted like a catalyst and brought them together because in her eyes, they were a match made in heaven.

They all greeted one another as they passed. The Captain then proceeded to the turbolift. She couldn't understand why the door wouldn't open as she approached.

"Computer, open the turbolift door." she ordered.

There was no response from the computer. She then tapped the panel to manually override the door. That didn't work either.

"What the hell…?" she cried.

"Kathryn." said a voice from over her shoulder.

She froze as soon as she heard his voice. It was so familiar, yet so alien… She hadn't heard that particular voice for a long, long time.

"Kathryn." the voice said once again.

She could feel tears building up in her eyes. It wasn't possible…

"Kathryn?" asked the voice once again, "What's wrong?"

She refused to turn around to face him. She then felt his large, warm hand appear on her shoulder.

"Let go of my arm..." she said, "Please…"

She felt the tears roll down her face.

"Kathryn…" the voice said.

"You're not my father." she stated, "Now, leave me alone."

Suddenly, the hand on her shoulder spun her around and grabbed her under the chin.

"Of course I am." he insisted as he gazed into her eyes.

Kathryn desperately tried to avoid his stare but she couldn't. She knew he wasn't her father yet his touch felt so real.

"Kathryn." he said, "I know I went away when you were little, but I'm here now."

She shook her head slightly and pulled away.

"No." she whispered, "My father died…"

He smiled weakly at her. "Kathryn… please, don't push me away."

She shook her head. "I can't… can't deal with this…" she cried, "Not now…"

He stood before her and smiled gently. "I understand, of course." he said as his gaze fell down to her swelling belly.

Kathryn suddenly felt her daughter kick her extremely hard. She instinctively placed her hand over the spot.

"_Don't trust him._" a voice inside her said.

"I don't…" she whispered in response.

"You don't what?" her father asked as he moved closer.

He face had suddenly change from being gentle and was on the verge of looking truly evil.

"Nothing." she replied, getting slightly scared of him.

"Kathryn." he said before grabbing her wrists, "What did you say?"

His grip got tighter and tighter every second.

"You're hurting me…" she gasped.

He continued to tighten his grip.

"What did you say?" he asked once again, still tightening his grip.

"Let go of me…" she begged.

The entity who had taken the shape of her father smiled sinisterly before disappearing in a flash of red light. The force of his disappearance sent the Captain to the floor.

After a moment once she had pulled herself together, she tried to push herself up but the pain in her wrists was excruciating. There were deep red marks already forming, blood was pouring from a deep cut on her right wrist and she was 100% sure they were both broken. She managed to sit up and lean against the wall of the corridor. She found it extremely uncomfortable thanks to her bump. She couldn't begin to describe how helpless she felt as she sat there. She couldn't even attempt to stand because she couldn't use her hands to assist her up, then again, standing up while being the equivalent of seven and a half months pregnant was never easy.

=/\=

Chakotay was in a rather good mood that morning as he strolled towards the Bridge. He'd actually managed to have a lie in that morning so he was feeling extremely refreshed and relaxed. However, that all changed when he turned the corner to see Kathryn sitting against the wall with blood pouring down her hands.

"Kathryn?" he asked as he ran over to her, "What the hell happened?"

She shook her head unable as she was unable to explain about her 'father'.

"Come on." he said as he carefully assisted her off the floor, "Let's get you to Sick Bay."

=/\=

The Doctor was amazed to say the least when the Captain explained what had happened, but he wasn't surprised in the slightest. He just nodded his head through the entire story.

Once her wrists were as good as new, Kathryn couldn't help but ask about his lack of surprise.

"Doctor?" she asked, "You weren't surprised when I told you about my 'encounter'. Why?"

The Doctor gulped and looked away from her. "Because you're not the only one who has 'seen someone' over the last couple of weeks." he said.

Chakotay, who had been at her side the entire time, looked at the Doctor.

"If you knew this was happening to others," he started, "Why the hell didn't you say something?"

He looked down at the tricorder to avoid eye contact with either of the command team. "Because I didn't know how people would react." he explained, "When I first discovered it last week, I started to explain it to Lt. Keller. She was… disturbed to say the least."

Chakotay frowned. "I don't understand." he admitted.

"She want crazy…" he told them, "And she almost killed herself…"

Kathryn was horrified. "And you didn't think to inform us?" she screamed.

"Captain I couldn't risk it." he replied.

Kathryn looked at him and shrugged her shoulders, hinting to him to explain what was happening.

"Certain members of the crew have been subjected to some sort of radiation which is acting like a hallucinogen." he informed her, "Without further examinations I can't detect who has been subjected to it, and I don't want other crew members trying to take their lives if I tell them about it."

Kathryn gulped. "And… who has been subjected to…this radiation?" she asked.

The Doctor gulped. "You Captain and about fifty other crew members." he replied.

Chakotay put his hand on the Captain's shoulder. She could feel her body start to quiver.

"And the baby?" she asked.

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't know." he answered truthfully.

"Doctor?" asked Chakotay, "Where is this radiation coming from?"

The Doctor shook his head. "I have no idea." he replied, "But what I do know is this: The radiation levels are increasing."

The Captain gulped. "Meaning?" she asked.

"More people will start to hallucinate." he replied, "And people who already are will get worse."

"Does this explain why Tom's been so different lately?" asked Chakotay.

"Possibly." said the Doctor, "I haven't examined him but from what I can tell, he has all the symptoms of this… epidemic."

The Captain nodded but then something hit her.

"Wait a minute." she said, "My wrists."

The Doctor frowned. "What about them?" he asked.

"They were both broken." she said, "If my father was just a hallucination, how did he break them?"

The Doctor thought about it. "You know, I'm not sure." he admitted.

"_Analyse the radiation signature._" a voice inside her said.

Chakotay saw her seem to zone out for a moment. "Kathryn?" he asked.

"Doctor," she started, "Analyse the radiation."

He frowned and nodded.

"What for?" asked Chakotay.

"Just a hunch…" she replied.

=/\=

He couldn't believe the amount of fun he was having. He had been tantalising these beings for years and he was absolutely loving it! He knew his father wouldn't approve, especially considering who these people were, but nevertheless, he was enjoying it. Besides, he knew his father couldn't control him, and his mother had given up on him so he really didn't give a damn. All he cared about was entertaining himself and he was certainly doing that.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked a voice which appeared to the side of him.

"Having fun." he replied, "You should try in once in a while."

"Come back to the Continuum." it said.

"Like hell." he replied.

A shadow to the side of him travelled up the wall.

"You must." it replied.

"You don't control me." he spat.

The shadow formed a face on the wall which looked down at him.

"Where is your father?" it asked.

"With that hedgehog thing and that young human kid." he replied.

"Come back to the Continuum." it said once again.

He sneered and walked away. "Never." he scowled.

=/\=

"Captain." hailed the Doctor, "Please report to Sick Bay."

Janeway, who had been going through PADD's of data, tapped her combadge to tell the Doctor she would be on her way in a moment. She couldn't get over the fact that this radiation was slowly making her crew insane...

As she made her way to Sick Bay, her thoughts were plagued by the things she had started to experience herself. Her father turning up, the voices she had been hearing scream inside her head but most of all, one of the clearest yet most unrecognisable voice she had ever heard. It was a female's voice. It sounded innocent and soft yet it was very powerful and demanding. It only came to her in times of trouble and even though she didn't recognise it, it didn't scare her one bit.

As she entered Sick Bay, she was horrified to see the amount of people in there who were in there slowly losing their minds. Kathryn's eye's fell onto Lt. Keller who was on Biobed one. There were two medics around her desperately trying to keep her under control. One was trying to sedate her while the other one was trying to hold her down. There was fresh red blood pouring down from the side of her right eye from where she had clawed at it and she was screaming the same phrase over and over: "Get out of my head!"

Kathryn's eye's then fell to the next biobed. A young Lieutenant was lying there staring up at the ceiling drearily saying the alphabet over and over again. The only pause was when she got to the letter Q. Then, she would stutter it a few dozen times before continuing.

The Doctor noticed the Captain enter the Bay and approached her slowly. He couldn't help but noticing her eyes welling up.

"Captain?" he asked, gesturing her to come into his office.

The Captain slowly followed him, desperately trying to remove the images out of her head.

"What have you found?" she asked him.

He sighed. "I've analysed the signature." he told her.

"And?" she asked.

He gulped. "It's a Q signature." he told her.

She felt the anger build up inside her. "Tell me you're joking!" she cried.

"I wish I could, Captain." he replied.

She clenched her fists and bit her lip. "He promised me!" she said, "HE PROMISED ME!"

She couldn't handle it any longer. This time he had taken it too far. She also couldn't stop her tears explode from her eyes.

"How could he do this?" she sobbed, "He's killing my crew!"

The Doctor didn't know what to say.

"I suggest you go back to your quarters." he said after a moment, "Try and get some rest."

She looked at him. "Rest?" she whispered, "How the hell am I meant to do that?"

The Doctor was about to reply but was summoned to the Surgical Bay where Ensign Anderson was in desperate need of some medical help. Kathryn on the other hand just sat down on the edge of the Doctor's desk and stroked her belly.

"When I see your father," she whispered, "I'm going to kill him!"

"_Don't be like that, Mommy." _said the voice from inside her.

Kathryn frowned but then it dawned on her. The voice, the voice she had been hearing over the last few days was her unborn daughter.


	27. Her Saviour, Q

Chapter 27

It had been three days since the Captain had been told that the recent epidemic was thanks to Q. Her anger had subsided and now she was more focused on finding a way to save her crew. For now, the Doctor had synthesized a depressant which was temporary blocking out the symptoms so they could slowly return to normal, if you could call in normal. Tom had found the depressant absolutely fantastic. For the first time in months he could finally remove his 'father' from his life.

"Sorry I'm late, Captain." said Harry as he entered the Bridge.

Kathryn looked up from her chair and smiled.

"How's Magnus this morning?" she asked.

Harry smiled and rubbed his forehead. "Full of energy." he replied as he made his way to his console.

Kathryn and Chakotay smiled. Tom, who had watched Harry make his way up to console, smiled as he turned back to his console.

"Rough night, Harry?" he asked.

"You could say that." he replied.

Kathryn rubbed her stomach and sighed. It hurt her to think about the things she wouldn't be able to do with her daughter. She wouldn't have to get up at all hours to feed her, she wouldn't be able to teach her as she grew up and she wouldn't be able to cuddle her.

Suddenly Tuvok and Harry's consoles started singing.

"I'm picking up a vessel." said Harry, "It's… Devidian."

Kathryn frowned and turned her attention to Tuvok.

"We are being hailed." he informed her."

She stood up and diverted her attention to the viewscreen.

"On screen." she ordered.

The viewscreen lit up and the face of their old friend Heblin appeared before them.

"Heblin." stated the Captain.

"Voyager." he nodded, "Long time, no see."

Kathryn smiled. "You're a long way from Devidian space." she stated, "Is there a problem?"

He smiled. "Not exactly." he replied.

"Oh, just get to it!" cried a voice in the background.

Kathryn tensed when she heard the voice. Then, when he appeared on the screen from behind Heblin, Kathryn gulped and desperately tried not to let her anger get the best of her.

"Q." she hissed.

"Hi Kathy!" he exclaimed with a smile, "I think you forgot someone in Devidian space."

Kathryn frowned. "What the hell are you on about?" she asked.

He smiled and turned the camera to a young woman stood to his left. The crew eyes widened when they saw who the woman was.

"Adele?" asked Kathryn.

She smiled and nodded. "Hello Captain." she said.

"How the…?" she started.

Suddenly Adele went very white and fell into Heblin's arms. This concerned the Bridge crew. Suddenly, Q snapped his fingers which transported himself, Heblin, Adele, Kathryn and Chakotay directly to Sick Bay.

Seconds after they were all transported, the Doctor and Heblin lifted Adele onto a biobed.

"What happened?" he asked.

"She was injured during an explosion in the escape pod." said Q.

"I tried to heal her." said Heblin, "But her body systems are too different. I wasn't sure what to do."

The Doctor quickly scanned her.

"Can you help her?" asked the Captain.

The Doctor smiled as soon as he saw the readings. "Easily." he replied.

Kathryn smiled and then turned to Q. He was looking around at all the people in the Bay, the ones whose hallucinations couldn't be suppressed by the depressant.

"What happened here?" he asked.

The Captain scoffed. "Like you don't know." she replied.

He frowned. "Should I know?" he asked.

"Walk with me." she ordered.

The Captain and Q walked along the corridor in silence for several minutes before either of them decided to speak.

"Kathy, what's this about?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't know Q." she said, "My crew are going crazy due to a Q radiation signature. Care to explain?"

Q stopped in his tracks and looked at her.

"I know nothing about this." he told her.

She frowned and looked up at him.

"Honestly Kathy." he said, "I promise you that."

"Then explain it to me Q." she said, "Explain to what the hell is going on!"

Q frowned. "I seriously don't know…"

=/\=

Q and the Captain had headed to the Mess Hall where Q was racking his brains in order to understand what was happening to the crew. Kathryn still wasn't sure whether Q was being truthful with her but for the first time in his life, he seemed to be genuine.

"I seriously don't understand what's happening to you." he said as he paced around the section of the room they were in.

"Can you stop it?" she asked.

"I need to know what's causing it before I can stop it fully." he told her.

"Well it's a Q signature." said the Captain.

"And that's why I can't stop it fully." he said.

Q flopped down onto the sofa and stared out of the window. He'd just about given up with what was happening. For the first time in his life he didn't understand what was going on. He looked over at Kathryn.

"I'm sorry I'm no help." he apologised.

Kathryn smiled and rubbed her stomach. Q smiled as he looked down at it.

"How is she?" he asked.

"Restless." she replied, "Do you have to take her away?"

Q broke away from her stare. "Kathy I wish I didn't have to." he replied, "But the Continuum would never allow it."

She sighed. "But when you originally asked me about it, you told me you would want me to look after her anyway." Kathryn said, "You told me that during the war in the Continuum."

Q looked at her. "I would have taken you to the Continuum." he replied, "I still will if you want."

"And leave Voyager?" she asked.

"Chuckles will be a great Captain." he said.

"He may." she agreed, "But I'm not leaving. A Captain doesn't abandon ship!"

Q shrugged his shoulders.

"Besides," she continued, "Human's can't exist in the Continuum. You told me that the first time I met you."

"I'd find a way." he replied, "I'm a Q, I can do anything."

"Apart from find out what's happening to my ship," she pointed out, "And find a way to let me keep my baby."

Q sighed. "Kathy if I could, I would." he said.

"Liar." said a voice to the left of them.

Kathryn and Q immediately turned to where the voice came from. However, there was nobody there. Kathryn frowned.

"Who was that?" she asked.

Q scoffed and stood up. "I should have known." he said.

He snapped his fingers and young human looking child appeared about a metre in front of him. He looked about twelve years old and was wearing a red Starfleet uniform. He looked up and Q and scowled.

"What the hell do you think you've been doing?" screamed Q.

"Having fun." the boy shouted back, "Something the Continuum doesn't let me have!"

"That's because you're always terrorising every species you see!" he shouted.

"Okay! Okay!" shouted Janeway as she stood up and placed herself between the two of them, "That's enough!"

She looked between Q and the boy. The tension between the two of them could have been cut with a knife.

"Captain Janeway, may I introduce my son, Q." said Q.

The young boy smiled almost cockily at her. Kathryn eyes widened. Is this how her daughter would turn out to be when she grew up, cocky and rude?

"_I don't like him, Mommy." _said her daughter inside her,_ "He's scaring me."_

Kathryn rubbed her bump in order to calm her down.

"_It's okay." _Kathryn said inside her head to her daughter.

Q Junior sniggered. "Pathetic." he spat, "She'll grow up like me, you know? That scares you, doesn't it?"

"Junior!" shouted Q, "That's enough."

Q looked over a shadow that had slowly formed behind Junior. He nodded slightly at it which sent a quiver down Junior's spine.

"What the hell was that?" he asked.

Q looked at Kathryn and snapped his fingers. "You're crew are okay now." he told her, "The radiation's gone."

He then turned back to Junior. "As for you," he continued, "We're going back to the Continuum, now!"

"Never!" screamed Junior before snapping his fingers.

However, nothing happened. Q smiled down at his now defenceless son.

"What the hell did you do?" cried Junior.

"The Continuum has temporarily dampened your powers." he told them.

"You can't do that!" he cried.

"I just have." said Q.

He grabbed hold of Junior's shoulders and turned around to Kathryn.

"I'm sorry for what's happened." he said, "I'll see you soon Captain."

Kathryn looked away. "Too soon." she whispered.

"Bye Kathy." he said.

Seconds later, both the Q's f disappeared in a flash. She then hit her combadge.

"Captain to Sick Bay." she hailed, "How's the crew?"

"They're all okay." said the Doctor in a slight shock, "They're all better."

Kathryn smiled. "What about Ensign Mabberly?" she asked.

"She's making a good recovery." he replied, "She'll be up and about in a few hours."

That made her smile even more.

=/\=

It had been four hours since both Q's had disappeared and Kathryn had made her way to Sick Bay to check on Ensign Mabberly. She was now up and about even though the Doctor was insisting she stayed in Sick Bay for a least another day.

"So what happened to you Ensign?" asked Kathryn.

She sighed. "Well, after Heblin ejected my escape pod, I made it through the sensitive part of the grid and then about half way through the next grid." she started to explain, "Then I was spotted by border control. Honestly, I thought it was over then but I managed to make it to an asteroid cluster. I'd been hit a few times but managed to play hide and seek with them for about four or five days."

"Impressive." praised the Captain.

Adele smiled. "Thank-you." she said, "Anyway, after that my luck started to run out because they kept sending in probes. Then Q turned up and… I blacked out. The next thing I knew I was in extreme pain and then I was in Heblin's Sick Bay."

Kathryn smiled. "Sounds like quite an adventure." she said.

Adele nodded and rubbed her head. "You could say that." she said.

"Well, get some rest Ensign…" she said as she stood up, "And welcome back."

"It's good to be back, Captain." Adele confirmed.


	28. Bad Timing

Chapter 28

One month, that's all Kathryn had left of her pregnancy. For the majority of reasons, she couldn't wait to have her baby. The only reason she didn't want her pregnancy to end was because she didn't want to lose her daughter to the Continuum in a month's time.

"Kathryn?" called Chakotay as he entered their quarters.

"In here." she called from the baby's bedroom.

For that last couple of weeks she had been on her dreaded maternity leave and had found a particular comfort sitting in that room for hours and talking to her daughter. She knew that it was bad to get attached to her knowing that it would only make their separation harder but she couldn't help it.

Chakotay popped his head around the door to see her sitting in the rocking chair next to the window. He slowly walked over and knelt down in front of her.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

She held onto his hands and looked down at him

"Chakotay," she whispered, "Am I clinging onto a fantasy?"

"What?" he asked with a smile.

"Why have I insisted to keep the room like this even though she'll never live in here?" she asked.

He smiled and placed his hand on her stomach.

"It's your way of keeping her close to you." he replied.

Kathryn smiled and placed her hand on top of his.

"_Is that Daddy?" _the voice of her daughter asked.

"Yes." Kathryn replied as she stroked her bump, "That's Daddy."

Chakotay smiled and stood up before assisting Kathryn out of the chair.

"Come on, let's get some sleep." he said.

She frowned. "What time is it?" she asked.

"2300 hours." he replied.

"Oh…" she said, "That late…"

Chakotay smiled and wrapped his arms around her.

"Come on." he said once again.

=/\=

It was 1200 hours the next day. Chakotay had been on duty since 0700 hours and Kathryn was getting extremely bored of not being able to do anything. She wandered out of her quarters and down the corridor. She didn't know where she was heading; she just wanted to get out and take a stroll around the ship.

She wandered around four decks before deciding she had had enough of doing nothing. When she found the next available turbolift, she called for it and stepped inside as soon as the doors opened. She thought long and hard before deciding to give into her desire.

"Bridge." she ordered.

She smiled as she reached it and the doors opened. Before stepping out, she took a brief look at the room. There were crew members casually passing by with PADD's or tools and she could see Tom and Chakotay having a deep discussion about the early Mars missions.

She casually strolled onto the Bridge and lent on the bar just above Chakotay's head, smiling at the fact neither Tom nor Chakotay had noticed her. Then again, none of the senior officers had noticed her.

Harry was too busy analysing some data with Ensign Wildman at the main science station and Tuvok was nowhere to be seen.

Another minute or two passed before Tom looked over and noticed her standing over the Commander.

"Captain." he acknowledged.

Chakotay turned around and saw her standing over him with an enormous smile on her face. He swiftly stood up and looked up at her.

"Kathryn?" he whispered, "What are you doing here?"

She sighed.

"I know I'm not on duty," she started, "But can I least watch?"

He smiled at her. "You miss the Bridge?" asked Chakotay.

She smiled and nodded. "Just a couple of hours?" she asked.

Chakotay rolled his eyes. He knew that he wasn't going to win this one. He held his hand out and gestured to her chair. She smiled and made her way down to her chair before sitting down.

"That's better." she commented.

Chakotay smiled, took his seat and held his hand out to her. She interlocked her fingers between his and sighed. She couldn't but notice the smirk on his face.

"What?" she asked.

"You know there's a ship's pool that you'll into labour on the Bridge?" he asked with a smile.

"Really?" she asked, as she turned to look at Lt. Paris, "I wonder who created that."

Tom quickly spun back to the helm. "I don't know why you're looking at me, Captain." he said with a smile.

Kathryn rolled her eyes and turned back to Chakotay.

"So, what's been happening?" she asked.

"We're still on course for the Alpha Quadrant at Warp 7." he informed her, "And… that's about it."

Kathryn smiled. "Unbelievable." she said, "Why wasn't it this calm when I was actually on duty?"

Chakotay smiled and turned back to the viewscreen to look at all the stars they were passing. The Captain briefly looked around and noticed that Tuvok wasn't at the Tactical station.

"Where's Tuvok?" she asked.

"Sorting out an 'incident' in the Mess Hall." replied Chakotay.

"An 'incident'?" she asked, "What sort of 'incident'?"

Chakotay smiled. "Nothing you need to worry about." he replied.

"Chakotay…" she warned.

Chakotay looked over at her and sighed.

"Lt. Ayala reported that Ensign Hickman was in a fight with Crewman Horton... while babysitting Naomi Wildman." Chakotay informed her.

"Ensign Hickman?" asked Kathryn in a small state of shock.

"I don't know anymore than you do." said Chakotay.

"I bet Sam won't be happy when she finds out." Kathryn said.

"I'd be willing to bet on that." said Chakotay

Kathryn nodded and rested her hand on her belly.

"_The fight isn't something I need to be worried about, is it?" _Kathryn questioned her daughter inside her head.

She felt a small flutter inside her stomach.

"_No." _her daughter's familiar voice replied, _"It's nothing."_

=/\=

The next couple of hours flew by in a haze. The Bridge crew had been engrossed in chitchat for most of the time because there had been absolutely nothing of interest happening on board, well, apart from the fight which turned out to be a karate demonstration organised for Naomi's karate lesson.

The crew on the Bridge continued with their discussions until Harry's console started to scream at him. He took a quick glance at the console before he realised they were in serious trouble.

"All hands, brace for impact!" he screamed.

The crew all quickly turned to him.

"Harry…?" asked the Captain.

Suddenly, the entire ship started shaking violently and the power fluctuated. At first it wasn't too bad but the shaking became more and more violent. In Sick Bay, many hyposprays and medicines started falling off the shelves onto the floor. The crew hadn't a clue what was happening, they just knew it was bad. The shaking started throwing people all over the place with extreme forces and blew out many consoles which sent sparks everywhere. The klaxons engaged automatically due to disturbance and the main power died.

After a moment the shaking stopped. Tom clambered to his feet and stumbled over to the helm. He felt extremely dizzy for a moment so he had to take a second to get his bearings back.

The Captain, who had managed to stay in her chair, stood up and assisted the Commander off the floor.

"What the hell was that?" she cried.

Harry scrambled to his console while she quickly looked around at her surroundings. There was debris on the floor and some of the consoles were in pieces but the crew seemed to be okay.

"Sensors are picking up subspace distortions and high energy particles directly to starboard." Harry reported.

Chakotay frowned and took a look on his console.

"It looks like we ran into a quantum filament." he stated.

Kathryn looked over at Tuvok. "Damage report." she ordered.

"We've lost primary life support and main power." he reported, "Switching to back up systems. Warp engines are offline and impulse engines are badly damaged."

Harry's console started to sound once again.

"There's another filament moving towards us." he reported.

"All hands, brace for impact." hailed the Captain as she took her seat and braced herself.

It couldn't be any worst that last time, could it?

The filament took over the ship at a devastating speed. The lighting on the Bridge dropped completely and crew members where flung all over the deck. Exploding consoles lit up the room and caught a few of the junior officers in the face. The Captain ducking instinctively when an EPS conduit above her head exploded but it did little good as the sparks still reached her and burnt her forehead. The pain was incredible but the filament still hadn't finished shaking the ship.

It seemed to die down for a split second before revving up again. The extreme force of the next few shakes sent the Captain and Commander out of their seats and directly to the floor. The Captain remembered hitting her head on something very hard and cold before everything suddenly went quiet…

=/\=

She didn't know how long she had been out for but she could tell by how hectic everybody was that it hadn't been long. She was guessing somewhere between a few seconds to a few minutes. When her vision started to clear, she saw Chakotay kneeling next to her, stroking her hair off her forehead.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

It took her another minute to compose herself enough to respond.

"I'm still a little groggy." she said.

Chakotay nodded. "Lie still for a moment." he told her, "Get your bearings back."

"Commander, secondary life support systems are fluctuating and inter-ship communications are down." he reported, "We cannot reach Engineering."

"Harry, get them back online." he ordered.

"Aye, sir." replied Harry who got straight to work.

The Captain moaned in pain as an enormous burning sensation travelled across her abdomen. Chakotay noticed and immediately called for Tom to examine her. He came over from another crew member who had been diagnosed with a broken knee cap and examined the Captain.

"Looks like you've got a mild concussion." he reported.

She exhaled deeply. "Then why does it feel like my stomach's on fire?" she asked.

He took another scan and frowned.

"It looks like the baby's emanating some type of energy field to protect itself." he replied, "I can suppress it though."

He quickly got out a hypospray and injected it into her neck. The pain subsided almost instantly and she got up, with assistance from both Chakotay and Tom. When she was back on her feet, she took a quick look around. Her Bridge was in pieces and so were many of her junior crew members.

"Captain." said Harry, "I've managed to re-establish inter-ship communications."

She nodded at him and smacked her combadge. "Bridge to Engineering." she hailed, "B'Elanna, report."

"Captain, we've got absolutely no power down here!" she answered, "We can't even get to an emergency power cell because all the doors are jammed!"

Kathryn looked over at Harry.

"Harry, transfer emergency power to Engineering." she ordered, "B'Elanna, we're transferring power down now."

"Thanks Captain." she replied.

Suddenly, dozens of alert klaxons sounded throughout Engineering.

"_Lieutenant!" _Kathryn heard a young engineer scream to B'Elanna through the com channel, _"The containment field's dropped down to 20%!"_

The entire Bridge crew's eye's widened. The ship was in serious danger!

"Nicoletti!" shouted B'Elanna, "Get an emergency power cell out of storage, now!"

"B'Elanna, report!" said the Captain.

"Captain, I can't talk now." she said, "Torres out."

The com channel ended abruptly and B'Elanna quickly got to work.

"Andrews!" she called, "Manually Keep the containment field above 15% until we hook up the power cell up."

"Aye, sir." he nodded.

Meanwhile on the Bridge, the Captain had also gotten back to work.

"Tuvok, I want all the emergency bulkheads overridden." she ordered, "And Harry, put all the consoles on manual override."

They both consented and got on with their tasks.

"Lieutenant Paris, I want you and Ensign Wildman to make your way down to Sick Bay and give the Doctor a hand." she continued.

He nodded, grabbed the Ensign and attempted to reach Sick Bay through the Jeffries tubes… not an easy task in normal conditions, let alone when the ship was in pieces.

Kathryn sighed and rubbed her head. The burns she had sustained during the second encounter were becoming more and more uncomfortable and the suppressant Lt. Paris had given her seemed to be wearing off already. Chakotay noticed her in pain and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Take a break." he insisted.

She shook her head.

"No." she answered, "Absolutely not!"

"Kathryn…" he whispered, "You shouldn't even be on duty. Give yourself a minute or two."

"Yeah…" she agreed, "Maybe you're…"

Her sentence was interrupted by an almighty cramp which crept over her stomach. She winced in pain and tried to ignore it hoping it would disappear after a moment.

Chakotay frowned. "Kathryn?" he asked.

She winced once again as another cramp overpowered her body.

"Ow…" she cried, only loud enough for the Commander to hear.

"Captain…?" Chakotay asked again.

She placed her hand on her stomach and swiftly fell back into her chair.

"This really isn't a good time…" she said.

Chakotay gulped when he realised what was happening. She was right about that. Of all times to go into labour, why did it have to been then?


	29. Disaster Zone

Chapter 29

How long had it been? Four, maybe five minutes since her contractions had started. It couldn't have happened at a worse time either. There was no quick, direct route to Sick Bay and the crew were all occupied with repairing the ship.

She tried to breathe though the pain which was searing throughout her body, hoping not to draw attention to herself. Chakotay was completely baffled by what to do in order to help her. There was no chance of getting her to Sick Bay and he knew for certain that Kathryn wouldn't be happy about delivering her daughter on the Bridge.

He quickly examined his surrounding before deciding the best course of action would be to assist the Captain into her ready room to give her a bit of privacy.

He slowly assisted her up during the pause between contractions and escorted her to the ready room.

"Tuvok, you have the Bridge." he informed him as they passed the Tactical station.

"Commander?" questioned Tuvok who didn't understand their reasoning to leave the Bridge during the ship's current predicament.

"The Captain's gone into labour." he whispered.

Tuvok nodded as soon as he heard and continued with his task. He knew for a fact that the Commander wouldn't leave the Captain alone for a while.

A moment after the Captain and Commander entered the ready room, Tom Paris and Samantha Wildman returned to the Bridge. Tom looked around but couldn't see either the Captain or Commander so he made his way over to Tuvok, who he assumed was in command at the present time.

"Sir," he began, "The Jeffries Tube is too badly damaged to crawl through. We can't get to Sick Bay."

Tuvok nodded at them. "Very well." he said, "Take your stations."

"Aye, sir." they both said before doing as ordered.

Meanwhile, in the ready room, Chakotay had helped Kathryn sit on the floor and lean against the sofa for support. Chakotay tried his very best to comfort her as the pain tore throughout her body, an effort which was a futile as trying to persuade a Ferengi to leave his estate to charity.

Her breathing was a deep as the oceans on Earth and she was already starting to feel very tired. She had no idea how she was going to last through the entire birth as they usually could take hours.

She gripped Chakotay's hand as another contraction ripped throughout her abdomen.

"Ow…" she moaned.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he swept hair off her forehead.

The look of sheer disgust she gave him answered his question.

She had to admit, she didn't think it would hurt as much as it did.

"I don't like this…" she cried during breaths.

Chakotay left her for a moment and retrieved the medical kit from underneath her desk. He took out the tricorder and began to scan her.

He bit his lip when he realised she was only half a centimetre dilated… she still had a long way to go…

=/\=

It had been an hour since the command team had left the Bridge. The ship was slowly starting to heal from the attacks by the filaments. Tuvok had managed to release the emergency bulkheads allowing the crew to move from deck to deck and Lt. Torres and her team were now hard at work repairing the ship. Their top priority was life support, followed by the main computer. The Doctor also had his hands full treating the injured.

The Captain however had finally managed to have a break from the non-stop pain from her contractions. The Commander had given her a mild sedative so she could sleep for a few hours. Although he was working on the Bridge, he popped into the ready room to see her every fifteen minutes. He'd informed the Doctor about her labour but at the moment there was nothing he could do. He'd just ordered the Commander to keep her sedated for a few hours and bring her to Sick Bay when she was about five centimetres dilated. Hopefully by then, Sick Bay wouldn't be as jam-packed. However, the Captain still was only half a centimetre dilated so it still wasn't an issue at that moment.

Once Chakotay and Samantha Wildman had repaired a couple of relays on the Bridge, he made his way into the ready room to check on her. She was sound asleep on the sofa with her hands lying on top of her bump. He smiled and watched her sleeping for a few moments before picking up the tricorder and taking another scan of her body.

"How far along is she?" asked a voice behind him.

He suddenly jumped up and spun around to see Q looking down at her.

"Oh," he said, "It's you."

"Well, hello to you to." he said before turning his attention back to the Captain, "How far?"

"Not a lot." he replied as he turned to look back down at her.

He knelt down and stroked her fallen hair out of her face. Even though he knew that Kathryn had gotten over what Q had done to her, he still struggled to fight the urge to strangle him.

"How long's this gonna take?" he questioned.

"I don't know." shrugged Chakotay, "It's different for everyone. Why?"

"I want to know when I need to come and get the baby." Q replied.

Chakotay spun around, desperately trying not to be too angry.

"You're seriously going to take her away?" he asked.

"I don't want to!" cried Q, "But I have no choice."

Chakotay scoffed. "Of course you do." he argued.

"No I don't!" cried Q, "I don't want to take the baby away from Kathy, but the Continuum refuse to let Q's live outside the Continuum."

"She's only half Q." Chakotay said.

"Full Q, half Q…" said Q, "It doesn't matter. The Continuum says no Q of _any kind _can exist outside the Continuum."

"So instead you allow yourself to traumatize her." Chakotay said.

Q frowned. "Traumatize?" he questioned.

"She's attached to the baby Q." he replied, "She won't give her up easily."

Q shook his head. "I can't do anything to change this." he said.

Chakotay rolled his eyes and turned back to Kathryn. "Whatever." he muttered.

=/\=

Another two hours later and Kathryn had just begun to stir. Chakotay couldn't risk giving her another sedative because of the risks to the baby. She was only one centimetre dilated by then which told him, and her, that the birth wasn't going to be quick.

"Chakotay?" she asked when she awoke.

Her eyes didn't adjust to the light straight away so she couldn't see exactly where he was.

"I'm here." he confirmed as he took her hand.

Another crippling cramp swept through her body. She rubbed her abdomen and let her tears start to fall. She wasn't 100% sure why she was crying. She believed part of it was due to the incredible pain she was experiencing but the other part was because the time of their separation was growing closer.

Her tears didn't go unnoticed by Chakotay who was soon cradling her.

"Hey!" he said, "Don't cry."

He wiped away her tears with his sleeve.

"Shh…" he hushed her as her sobs became more apparent.

"He's gonna take her away…" she said in a daze, "They're gonna take her away!"

Suddenly, her once silent tears became full on wails. She'd never felt so upset before in her life. She couldn't help but wonder if it was her hormones getting to her, but all she could think of was the baby that was beginning to be pushed out of her body. She was going to lose her soon, and she desperately didn't want to.

Chakotay slowly began rocking her back and forth. He hated seeing her upset but he could understand why. Even though the baby wasn't physically his daughter, she was still his so it also upset him that she was going to be taken away.

=/\=

Kathryn wasn't exactly sure how much time had passed but she knew it had been a hell of a long time. She knew that she had been sedated once again but she hadn't a clue how long for. What she did know was that one minute she had been lying on the sofa in her ready room, the next she was on a biobed in Sick Bay dressed in a surgical gown. Chakotay was still by her side when she woke up and his hand was still interlocked with hers.

"Chakotay," she began, "How…"

Her question was interrupted by another contraction. They seemed to be getting a lot stronger and more painful. She closed her eyes and gave herself a moment to let it pass.

"How long have I been here?" she asked between breaths.

"Almost six hours." he replied.

"Six?" she asked.

He nodded. "And don't worry," he said, "The ship's fine."

She smiled and let her body relax. At least that was good news.

"B'Elanna's got the main computer up and running and most of the hull damage been repaired." he informed her, "All that's left to do is repair damaged EPS relays and conduits that were blown out by the filaments."

She sighed. "And how's the First Officer doing?" she asked.

"He's asked for permission to be at the bedside of his fiancée who's in Sick Bay at the moment." he replied with a smile.

"And what would he say if I didn't give him permission?" she asked rubbing her forehead.

"Tough luck." he replied just before bending down and kissing her on the cheek.

She moaned as another contraction pulsed throughout her body. She gave it a moment before looking back up at Chakotay.

"How far along am I?" she asked.

"You were about three centimetres an hour ago." he replied.

She sighed. "Three centimetres in seven hours?" she asked, "Is that all?"

He nodded. "She doesn't want to leave yet." he said as he placed his hand on her stomach.

Kathryn bit her lip and placed her hand on top of Chakotay's. "I don't particularly want her to leave yet, either." she said.

=/\=

After another hour, the Doctor came out of his office and checked on the Captain once again. Her contractions had become much more frequent all of a sudden as she could barely get through a sentence before another one propped up.

As the Doctor examined her, she began breathing extremely deeply, especially as he began prodding her stomach in order to feel the baby. He then scanned her once again. The pain was starting to become more and more uncomfortable and her moaning was becoming more and more frequent. Chakotay held tightly onto her hand and continually stroked her forehead in order to comfort her. After a few more moments, the Doctor finished his scans and looked at the Captain with a smile. Kathryn couldn't work out it that was good or bad but when her contractions suddenly died down, she understood exactly what was happening.

"Captain, you're at ten centimetres." he informed her.

The Captain started to breathe extremely deeply as she began to bear down. There were only moments left before she had to start to push, a procedure she wasn't looking forward to in the slightest. She was already completely worn-out, how was she meant to give birth with absolutely no energy?

Suddenly, an almighty urge gushed though her abdomen. She screamed as the pain tore throughout her body. She gripped the Commander's hand as she tried to deal with the pain.

"Well Captain," stated the Doctor as she relaxed, "It's time for you to push…"

She sighed and looked up at Chakotay. He gave her a small smile and squeezed her hand for encouragement.

"You can do this, Kathryn." he told her.

She gulped and looked back over at the Doctor.

"_Alright then sweetie," _she thought inside her head, _"Let's do this…"_


	30. The Cruel Continuum

Chapter 30

"I can't do it!" she cried as her body relaxed once again.

The pain was becoming increasingly worse and she was as tired as hell. She screamed as yet another contraction tore through her body.

"Push, Captain!" instructed the Doctor.

Her breathing was becoming deeper and deeper as she tried to do as ordered. However, she was too tired to continue.

"I can't do it…" she cried.

"Yes you can." Chakotay said as he rubbed her hair off her forehead, "You're doing wonderfully."

"You're just saying that!" she snapped just before another urge to push pulsed through her body.

She screamed once again as her body tightened.

"Push." instructed the Doctor.

She began to breathe deeply as pushed with all her might. She gripped onto Chakotay's hand as she did, digging her nails deep into his skin. Of course it was unintentional, yet it did draw rosy red blood from his hand. However Chakotay didn't mind because all his attention was focused on Kathryn. Her labour had already been eight hours long as he could see she was shattered… and in pain.

"Push!" instructed the Doctor, "Push Captain!"

"I am pushing!" she screamed before panting once again.

"I know you're fatigued." he sympathised, "Focus on your breathing. Bear down when you get to another contraction."

Chakotay smiled weakly at her when she looked up at him. "Come on," he encouraged, "You can do it."

=/\=

Another fifteen minutes passed on the Bridge and there was still no news from Sick Bay. The crew were still repairing the ship and attempting to get to sections of the ship still cut off by the emergency systems. The most obvious problem was Cargo Bay 1. The hull breach had been repaired but the computer still wasn't allowing the crew to enter for safety reasons. There were also three crew members missing who were last seen in the Cargo Bay.

"Sir," started Tom as he entered the Bridge, "Emergency teams have recovered the body of Ensign Timothy Jenkins in Jefferies Tube 24-Alpha."

Jefferies Tube 24-Alpha, the emergency exit from Cargo Bay 1…

"And?" enquired Tuvok.

"It looks like he was trying to escape from the breach as it occured." reported Tom, "It looks like he was pulled back by the force and he caught his head on the bulkhead. Lt. Matthews pronounced him dead at the scene."

"And the others?" he questioned.

Tom shook his head. "They haven't been found yet, sir." he reported.

"Understood." said Tuvok, "Thank-you Lieutenant."

Tom then walked down to the helm to check on the warp systems. They had been experiencing a problem with the warp field for hours but the engineering teams couldn't focus on it because it wasn't a top priority.

He glanced over the monitors. One reading in particular caught his attention.

"Ensign?" he asked, referring to Samantha Wildman, "Come take a look at this."

Sam hurried over from the Science station and took at look at what Tom was referring to.

"It looks like there's something disrupting the warp steam in the coil." she stated.

Tom shook his head. "Yes, but look at the configuration of what's disrupting it." he told her.

Sam took a seat at the helm and looked at the monitor. She couldn't see anything of importance because the reading was too small.

"Computer, magnify." she ordered.

Tom and Sam both recoiled in horror when they saw the configuration of the object.

"It's humanoid." Sam said as she looked up at Tom.

He quickly smacked his combadge. "Emergency crews, report to warp coil 2 immediately!" he ordered.

Sam and Tom both hurried down there themselves. Whatever or whoever this was, it wasn't going to be a pretty discovery…

=/\=

Meanwhile in Sick Bay, the Captain was still in the process of pushing. At that moment, she had relaxed once again between contractions. Her body was using up all her energy but her daughter still didn't want to enter the world just yet.

"Push, Captain." commanded the Doctor.

She took yet another deep breath, held tightly onto Chakotay's hand and pushed with all her power.

As she pushed, a new crippling pain rushed through her stomach.

She yelped in absolute agony. "What the hell was that?" she shrieked.

The Doctor frowned and looked up at the Captain who was physically crying due to the new pain. Chakotay was also vastly concerned, especially considering how quickly it had suddenly appeared.

"What's wrong?" the Doctor asked her.

"The pain in my abdomen!" she cried, "It's different… hot…"

The Doctor immediately began to scan the baby.

"Oh my God!" cried Kathryn.

"The baby's in distress." he said as he read the information off his tricorder, "And her energy is building up too quickly for her body to control."

"What does that mean?" asked Chakotay as he gripped Kathryn's hand once again.

"She needs to be delivered now!" replied the Doctor, "But I don't think the Captain can do it quick enough naturally… not now."

"Then what do you suggest?" he asked as the Captain's cries of agony grew increasingly louder.

He quickly thought about it until he reached his conclusion.

"I'm going to set up a foetal transport." he said.

The Doctor raced off to set up the equipment while Chakotay desperately tried in vain to comfort the Captain. She was yelping at the pain pulsing through her body. However, all she was concerned about was her baby.

=/\=

It took the emergency crews only minutes to reach the coils. Samantha Wildman and Tom followed close behind as they made their way through all the debris yet to be cleared by the repair teams.

"Lieutenant!" called Lt. Jackson who was at the front of the group, "The computer won't allow me access."

Tom pushed his was through the team to the front of the group and typed in his command code. The computer still denied them access and didn't open the door.

"Computer!" he shouted, "Open Door 29-Beta. Emergency Code-1. Clearance: Paris Delta 4-6-9 Omega 7!"

The doors suddenly opened in response to his code. The crew slowly entered the room looked across at the plasma field. Tom frowned as he could clearly see that there was a disruption in the plasma field yet there was no apparent cause. The crew all looked up the conduit all apart from Sam who looked down.

"Oh my God!" she cried.

The others quickly looked down. Their eyes widened when they saw a small figure lying at the bottom of the conduit. The emergency crew quickly, but safely, made their way down.

"I don't understand…" said Sam in a state of shock, "She was in Cargo Bay 1..."

Tom looked up at the opening where the plasma flowed out when creating a warp field.

"She was probably sucked out of the hull breach in the Cargo Bay and fell into here through the opening." he told her.

Sam looked up to see what he was on about.

"Then when the plasma started up…" he started.

Sam shook her head. She could see what had happened after that.

"Then when the plasma started up," she repeated, "She was burnt to death."

Tom placed his hand on her shoulder. He knew Sam had been close friends with her. He looked down at the young woman who the emergency teams were still crowding. Her uniform was singed and more than likely fused to her skin. Her body was also covered in so many burns it was hard to make out who she actually was.

After a moment, the emergency crew confirmed his belief. "She's dead, Lieutenant." Jackson shouted up the conduit.

Sam covered her mouth in a futile attempt not to break down in front of the crew. Tom sighed and squeezed her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

"Get her body out of here." ordered Tom, "Take her to the morgue until the Doctor's free."

"Aye, sir." replied Jackson.

=/\=

Kathryn was in agony, even when the Doctor was finally ready to proceed. The burning sensation had been getting progressing worse and she could actually hear her daughter asking for help. Her constant cries were ringing through her head.

"_Mommy, help me…" _she kept saying, _"It hurts… Mommy, help!"_

Chakotay could see the pain in Kathryn's eyes. She was trying hard to be brave but then again, she could never hide her feelings from him.

"Okay." the Doctor finally said, "I've locked onto the baby's coordinates, Initialising umbilical separation."

He tapped a few buttons on the console. "Energize." he said.

The sound of the transporter filled the room which was followed by a newborn baby's cry. The pain diminished immediately from Kathryn's abdomen and was replaced by an almighty sense of relief. Her head hit the pillow as soon as her she heard her daughter's cry. Chakotay glanced over at the baby girl while the Doctor was scanning her. She looked perfect.

"She's perfectly healthy." replied the Doctor.

Kathryn sighed and looked down at the Doctor who was now wrapping her in a white blanket. She smiled and looked up at Chakotay who had a single tear strolling down his cheek.

"Hey." said Kathryn as she squeezed his hand.

She found it quite strange at the fact he was crying since she had never actually seen him cry before.

"It's okay." he said wiping it away, "I'm just a big old softie."

Kathryn gripped his hand and smiled. "Crying is healthy." she told him.

He smiled and kissed her cheek. "Well done." he said.

The Doctor walked over to them with the baby in his arms. "Do you want to hold her, Commander?" he asked.

"Can I?" he asked.

The Doctor smiled and handed her to him. The smile on his face was a memory Kathryn promised herself she'd never forget.

"She's beautiful." he commented, "Just like her mother."

Kathryn smiled up at them and at her newborn baby girl. Her head had already turned to wondering how long it would be until Q turned up…

"_Daddy." _a voice said inside her head.

Kathryn looked up at her daughter and smiled.

"Yes…" she said, "That's Daddy."

Chakotay sat down on a chair the Doctor had brought out for him. He looked over at Kathryn and back to the baby. He loved the fact that she thought of him as her 'Daddy'.

The Doctor then took a scan of the Captain. Apart from being extremely tired, she was completely healthy.

The Doctor gave them a moment before deciding to speak up.

"Do you want me to take a photo?" he asked.

Kathryn and Chakotay nodded. The Doctor picked up a small photo-imaging device and focused on them. As soon as the picture had been recorded, he showed it to the command team.

"Not bad." commented the Captain.

Chakotay smiled and looked back over at Kathryn.

"Do you want to hold her?" he asked.

Kathryn smiled as Chakotay placed her in her arms. Kathryn eyes broke their banks when she saw her daughter's face. She had to look away after a moment. This beautiful miracle was going to be taken away soon… and she didn't have the energy to handle that.

Chakotay placed his hand on her shoulder. His support gave her the strength to look at her once again.

"You're so beautiful." Kathryn told her, "And always remember that Mommy and Daddy love you."

Chakotay was just about ready to speak but his words were drowned out by the worst sound possible. The one sound Kathryn desperately didn't want to hear… not yet. Q's power... the sound they heard when he had appeared in the past...

Kathryn refused to look up… she didn't want to see him yet...

It took of Chakotay's strength to make himself look up at the being ready to kidnap Kathryn's baby.

He didn't say anything. He just stood there looking over at them.

"Q…" whispered Chakotay, "Dear God, not yet!"

Kathryn's hands started to shake. She couldn't give her up, not yet. She cuddled her daughter and brought her as close to her chest as possible.

"I'm sorry Kathy." he said, "It's time."

"No…" she cried, "Not yet… please."

Q approached the Bay and extended his arms to take the baby.

"For God sake Q!" shouted Chakotay, "Give her a bit of time."

He looked up at Chakotay. "The longer I give you, the harder it will be." he said.

"Leave her." cried Kathryn, "Please leave her."

Q bit his lip and took the baby from her arms.

"I'm sorry…" he said as within a second he was gone.

The Captain physically broke down after that. She could hardly breathe as she was sobbing so much. Chakotay cradled her as she sobbed her heart out. He had to admit, he was upset too… and angry, oh yes, he was angry, but right now Kathryn needed him to be strong for her, no matter how hard that would be.


	31. Realisation

Chapter 31

It had been four hours since Q had taken the baby away. The Doctor had had to sedate Kathryn in order to calm her down. However, now she was awake. Yes, her daughter was on her mind but there was no chance she was going to beat the Continuum this time.

"How are you feeling?" Chakotay asked.

"Like someone's ripped my heart out." she replied.

She looked down at the photo the Doctor had taken of the three of them only a few hours before. She was glad he'd taken it when he did because they didn't have another chance.

"Why couldn't he have given us a little longer?" she asked as she stroked the image.

Chakotay shook his head. "I don't know." he admitted.

A few minutes later Tuvok entered the room and slowly approached the Surgical Bay. He was carrying a collection of PADD's in his hands and his uniform was covered in dust.

"Tuvok." said the Commander.

"Commander, Captain." he acknowledged, "I don't know what to say."

Kathryn smiled slightly. Even though Tuvok never showed any emotion, she knew he cared for her and she appreciated that.

"What is it, Commander?" she asked.

He looked down at the PADD's and then back up at them.

"The ship is back to peak efficiency." he informed them, "The hull breaches have all been repaired, the main computer is back online and Cargo Bay 1 has been recovered."

Kathryn examined his face. She knew him to well to realise that there was something else he hadn't told her.

"And…?" she asked.

"And… we've lost four crew members." he informed her.

Kathryn felt her stomach dropped and bit her lip.

"Who?" she asked him.

Tuvok looked down at her. He couldn't lie but he didn't want to upset her too much, especially after losing her baby.

"Ensign Timothy Jenkins, Crewman Ryan Knight, Ensign Sara McCormack and…" started Tuvok, "Ensign Adele Mabberly…"

Chakotay felt Kathryn grip his hand when she heard Adele's name. He knew she had felt guilty when she sent her on the mission where she was presumed dead… now she was.

She rubbed her mouth and desperately tried to stop herself from crying once again.

"Knight was blown out into space when Cargo Bay 1 was breached, Jenkins suffered a severe head injury due to the hull breach, McCormack was hit by an exploding EPS conduit and Mabberly suffered third degree plasma burns to 98% of her body."

Kathryn gulped. "How did she suffer plasma burns?" she asked, but she wasn't 100% sure if she actually wanted to know.

Tuvok looked down at her. "She was blown out of the hull breach in the Cargo Bay, sucked into the warp conduit and was burnt by the plasma." he informed her.

Kathryn bit her lip. She was one of the youngest Ensign's on board and had already escaped death once that year. She'd managed to evade destruction in a hostile part of space yet she'd been brought to her knees by a simple special anomaly…

"Thank you, Tuvok." the Captain said in a daze, "Dismissed."

=/\=

"Shut that child up!" roared a voice from the corner of the room.

Q swiftly picked the baby up and began to shake her.

"You're supposed to rock her, Q!" said another voice from the opposite corner.

"Oh right…" he said.

He began to rock the baby.

"Shh, little one." he hushed.

He was in a perception of the Continuum that the human child could comprehend. He was in a small white room that contained a crib, a toy box and a rocking chair. He hadn't a clue what to do to make her stop crying. It was much easier with Junior. For starters, his mother was there to help and secondly, he could transform into his normal form which made it much easier to control him. Then again, he hadn't turned out too well and he didn't particularly want to mess Kathy's daughter up too.

The baby continued wailing non-stop.

"Q!" bawled the first voice.

"You come and do it then!" snapped Q, "She's part human meaning she had a tendency not to listen…"

Suddenly, a female Q with blonde hair appeared next to him in human form.

"Give her to me." she said as she took the baby off her.

"Amanda." he said, "I haven't seen you for years."

She smiled and rocked the baby. "That's better, sweetie." she said once she had stopped crying.

"You're an expert with human babies." he commented.

She rolled her eyes and looked up at him. "I grew up as a human, remember?" she asked.

Q nodded. He remembered the day he first put her powers to the test on Jean-Luc's Enterprise… and when he brought her home to the Continuum.

His thoughts were interrupted when the baby started to wail once again.

"I take it back." he said, "You're not an expert."

She rolled her eyes and attempted to feed the baby.

"She won't touch her bottle." she said after a moment.

"Is that the problem?" he asked.

"No…" said Amanda who examined the little girl's thoughts, "She misses her mother."

Q rolled his eyes. "I had to bring her here." he said, "The Q wouldn't let her grow up outside the Continuum."

Amanda raised her eyebrow.

"They would have." she said, "If you'd have tried hard enough."

Q sighed. "They wouldn't have…" he started.

"Rubbish!" she interrupted, "They let me and I'm fully Q."

He had to agree with that…

"Besides, the only reason you wanted me to return to the Continuum was because my adoptive parents weren't Q so they couldn't help me control my powers." she said.

"Kathy's not Q either." he told her, "That's why I had to bring her here."

"Absolute rubbish!" cried Amanda, "She knows about Q's. My parents didn't. She could teach her to control her powers quite easily."

"You think so?" asked Q.

"If she's as determined as I've heard," said Amanda, "Absolutely… 100%!"

Q sighed. "Maybe you're right." he agreed.

Amanda smiled and handed the wailing infant back to her biological father.

"Well, if you'll excuse me," she started, "I have a meeting with the comet of Devilia VI."

Q nodded at her and a second later she disappeared. He looked down at the baby in his arms and examined her features. She definitely looked a lot like Kathy.

"You miss your Mommy and Daddy, don't you?" he asked.

The word 'Daddy' made him feel awful. He hated the idea of Chakotay being her 'father' but he had to admit, he'd be much better being her father than he ever would. It took him several moments to decide to do what he was considering but eventually he decided too. He snapped his fingers and then looked down at the baby once again.

"Okay Q." he said to himself, "Let's do this…"

=/\=

The Captain awoke in Sick Bay another three hours later. The Doctor had sent Chakotay away so she could get some rest but it had done little good. There were two people on her mind, her baby and Ensign Mabberly. Her death was bad enough let alone the way she actually died…

The Doctor exited his office and looked over at her.

"You should be asleep." he said.

She sneered. "Impossible." she stated.

The Doctor looked away. There was no way he could imagine what she was going through. The closest comparison was when he lost his daughter, Belle. Then again, that was still nothing like what the Captain had gone through. His scans had confirmed that she had developed a bonding with her daughter. That was probably the reason she could hear some of her thoughts before Q took her away.

Half an hour later, Seven entered Sick Bay with her little boy. She could have kicked herself when she realised the Captain was still there. All she would have needed was to see her son so soon after she had lost her daughter.

The Captain looked up and smiled. "Seven…" she said.

"Captain." she acknowledged.

The Captain's smile grew when she saw Magnus. He was only four and a half months old and was as cute as a button.

The Doctor came out to see Seven and took the baby off her. He then placed him in a small baby biobed and scanned him. Meanwhile, Seven made her was over to the Captain. She was unsure what to say but decided it would be best to say something.

"I'm so sorry, Captain." she said.

Kathryn looked down at her once again flat stomach and smiled weakly.

"There's nothing else I can do." she said.

Seven sighed and looked back at the Doctor who was sedating her baby boy. Kathryn, who was eager to change the subject of conversation, looked back at Seven.

"What's the Doctor doing?" she asked.

Seven turned back to her. "Removing the implant on his cheek." she replied, "It's impairing the correct growth and development of his jawbone."

Kathryn nodded and looked on at the littlest crew member on board.

"It's a relatively simple procedure." she reassured her.

Kathryn smiled. "Good to know…" she said.

=/\=

After half an hour the procedure was done and dusted and Seven and Magnus had left Sick Bay. By then it was 1700 hours, the end of Chakotay's shift, so he had joined Kathryn in Sick Bay.

At her request he had informed her about the ship and the crew. He'd also told her he had informed the senior staff about the baby, but the others were still unaware.

"What are we going to tell them?" she asked Chakotay, "They all thought she was yours."

He sighed. "We'll just say… we lost her." he said.

Kathryn sighed. "I suppose that's the truth." she agreed.

"Well, not exactly…" said a voice at the bottom of her bed.

They both looked down to see Q standing there holding Kathryn's daughter in his arms.

"Q?" she asked.

He smiled and walked around to her side and handed her the baby. Her stomach fluttered and her heart skipped a beat as soon as she was in her arms. For the first time in hours, both she and Chakotay felt happy and relieved.

"What… What made you bring her back?" she asked.

Q sighed and sat at the bottom of her bed. "I had a chat with a Q who made me open my eyes." he admitted, "So I had a chat with the Continuum and decided the best course of action would be to bring her back."

Kathryn's smile grew and tears started rolling down her face. Chakotay also felt his eyes start to water up. She was home…

Q looked between the pair of them.

"Why are you crying?" he asked, "I thought you'd be happy."

Kathryn nodded. "I am happy." she said, "I'm crying because I'm happy."

Q rolled his eyes. "Human emotions…" he said, "I'm so glad I don't have them! Anyway, before I go I have to tell you this. She still has her powers and she'll need your guidance when they become active."

Kathryn looked up at him.

"She had a lot of power but that have limits unlike a full Q." he told them, "She also hasn't got the ability to change her form. The only thing she'll be able to do is cloak herself for a limited amount of time."

Kathryn smiled and looked down at her daughter. She was perfect just the way she was.

"There's also one more thing." he said.

Kathryn and Chakotay both looked over at him.

"And what's that?" questioned Chakotay.

"I've reconfigured her DNA." he said.

Kathryn frowned. "Why?" she asked.

Q smiled slightly. "Her father DNA is now… Commander Chakotay's." he told them.

Kathryn and Chakotay frowned but their smiles started to form.

"You did what?" Chakotay asked.

Q shrugged his shoulders.

"You're a better father to her that I'll ever be." he said, "So I made it official."

Chakotay smiled. He had to admit he was still angry with what Q had put them through but for that, he was grateful.

"Thank you." he said.

Q nodded at them before disappearing. Kathryn then looked up at Chakotay who was now crying.

She passed the baby to him and held onto his vacant hand.

"We're a family now." she stated.

"Not yet." said Chakotay, "We have a wedding to sort out."

Kathryn smiled. "I love you." she said.

Chakotay smiled, bent down kissed her forehead. "I love you too." he said.

Kathryn held her finger out to the baby who curled her fingers around it and gripped it.

"We need to name her." she said.

Chakotay took a seat on the chair and placed the baby on the bed next to Kathryn's stomach.

"I agree." he said.

Kathryn stroked her cheek to which she seemed to smile.

"What about Adele?" asked the Captain.

Chakotay smiled, especially because he knew her reasoning.

"I like that." he replied, "Adele Janeway."

Kathryn smiled. "What about her middle name?" she asked.

"We've got time to come up with that." he said, "But for now she's Adele."

Kathryn smiled and kissed her forehead. "Welcome home, Adele."


	32. Completed Family, Completed Hearts

Chapter 32

The Captain actually managed to sleep well that night knowing that her daughter was going to stay aboard. The Doctor had decided to keep the Captain and Adele in Sick Bay that night, mostly to give the Captain a proper night sleep since she had hardly slept properly ever since the first filament had hit the ship almost 36 hours beforehand. It had also given Chakotay time to get their quarters perfect for when they brought Adele home.

Kathryn awoke at 0600 hours after an eight hour sleep. Part of her wished she had slept a little longer but the gurgles from Adele made her happy to be awake. She quietly got off the bed and moved over to the side of Adele's incubator. She began to stroke her left cheek and let her grip her finger. The happiness that she made her feel was extraordinary. The fact that she was biologically Chakotay's daughter made her even happier.

"Morning sweetie." she whispered.

Adele looked up at her and smiled slightly.

"You're so precious to me." Kathryn told her as she stroked her cheek.

She didn't know exactly how long she was there just admiring her baby but after a while the Doctor entered from his office.

"You should be in bed." he said.

Kathryn looked up. "Well, good morning to you to." she said with a smile.

The Doctor smiled. "Good morning." he said, "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Absolutely wonderful." she replied, "Why wouldn't I be?"

She looked down at her daughter once again. The Doctor smiled and looked down at the baby.

"And how's Adele this morning?" he asked with an enormous grin.

Kathryn smiled, especially when she heard Adele's thought inside her head.

"She likes you." she told him.

He smiled and tickled her tummy which made her grin. "And I like you too." he told her.

Kathryn looked up at the Doctor and smiled at the memory of when he saw Q had returned her the day before. It was absolutely hilarious! Kathryn honestly thought he was going to pass out even though he was a hologram.

Not long after, Chakotay entered Sick Bay carrying an ancient Mosses basket. Kathryn smiled. She knew he had always been into ancient carvings and basket weavings so this fit the bill… and she wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

"Morning Doctor." he greeted.

He then walked over to Kathryn and kissed the top of her head. "Morning you." he said.

He then bent down and kissing Adele's head, "And good morning, baby girl."

Kathryn looked at him with her eyebrow raised. "Morning _you?_" she asked.

Chakotay smiled and nodded.

Kathryn tried her best to keep her face straight but his sweet, innocent eyes broke through it and made her smile.

"That's better." he commented, "Now Doctor, can we all leave now?"

The Doctor smiled and nodded before turning to the Captain.

"Captain, I officially discharge you from Sick Bay." he told her.

"Thank you Doctor." he said.

=/\=

Being so early in the morning, they didn't run into anyone on the journey to their quarters. Chakotay was carrying the Mosses basket which was holding baby Adele while Kathryn was holding his hand all the way there.

They entered their quarters and headed straight to Adele's bedroom. It gave Kathryn a great delight when she ordered for the lights to be turned on. Chakotay lifted Adele out of the basket and they began to show her around her room.

After a few minutes, the tour was over, well, all except one thing.

"And Adele, there's something we need to show Mommy." said Chakotay as he headed out of her bedroom.

"Show me what?" enquired Kathryn as she followed them out.

"See Adele?" asked Chakotay, "Mommy can't stand not knowing about things straight away. That's one thing you'll have to learn."

"Chakotay!" cried the Captain.

He looked up and smiled at her.

"Over here." he directed.

She followed him to the living area and looked at the wall where he was directing her to.

"Oh, Chakotay…" she whispered, "That's beautiful…"

It was the image the Doctor had taken of them the day before. It was in a beautiful wooden frame with two doves carved in the top right hand corner. She knew Chakotay had obviously hand carved it because of the doves. They were his favourite bird because they represent peace and two doves represented a lifelong couple and family, something he hoped they would all be for a long time.

She reached over and felt the dove carving.

"Wow…" she said, "Where did you get the wood?"

"On shore leave." he answered.

She shook her head and continued to study the wood.

"No…" she said, "It seems too familiar."

She turned and looked at Chakotay. "Where did you get it?" she asked once again.

He sighed. "Oh, alright…" he said, "It's left over from New Earth."

"What?" she asked in a state of shock, "You've kept it all this time?"

He nodded. "I wanted to use it for the right thing," he replied, "And this felt right."

Kathryn smiled and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Well, it certainly was." she agreed.

=/\=

It had been exactly a week since Adele's birth and Chakotay and the Captain were falling into a nice routine. Adele was what Kathryn would call an 'easy' baby. They gave her her last feed at 2300 hours every night and she would sleep through to 0600 hours every morning. Even if she awoke earlier, she'd just lie in her crib and wait for either of her parents to come and get her. She hardly ever cried.

Kathryn was back on duty part-time while Chakotay was back full-time. She also knew Chakotay was up to something. He spent most of his spare time either with Adele or working on his 'project'. He'd also gotten most of the crew in on his plans so they were all acting very secretive around her.

That evening, Chakotay had gotten a close friend to babysit Adele so he and Kathryn could spend the evening together. Kathryn was very reluctant to agree but she had a hunch that the evening had something to go with Chakotay's project.

"Are you ready?" he called through from the living quarters.

"Yes." replied Kathryn, "But I still don't see why I have to wear a dress."

She looked at her reflection in her mirror. She was dressed in a knee length white dress that had a silver jewels spotted all over it and she had a corresponding white flower in her hair.

"You look lovely." complimented Chakotay as she exited their room.

She smiled. "So, do I get to know where we're going yet?" she asked.

He smiled. "To the Mess Hall." he replied.

She frowned. "The Mess Hall?" she questioned.

"Oh," he said as he headed over to the dresser, "You'll need one of these."

He took out a small box and handed her a golden band ring from out of it.

Her jaw hit the floor when she realised what was happening. "You've planned it all?" she asked with a smile.

"You said you didn't know if you'd have time." he said, "So I thought I'd give you a treat and do it for you."

Kathryn smiled and ran into his arms. They kissed passionately for a moment before she pulled away.

"Isn't it bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other before the ceremony?" she asked.

Chakotay shook his head. "It's the 24th Century." he reminded her, "Anything's possible."

=/\=

The ceremony was everything she could have hoped for. They were surrounded by their friends and Seven was the one 'babysitting' Adele so she was there too. The ceremony itself was hosted by Tom Paris who obviously made the wedding fun and humorous, but still made it feel special. Tuvok give Kathryn away and believe it or not, the Doctor was Chakotay's best man.

The after party was fun and vibrant and lasted for hours until the Captain decided to call it a night. Seven had offered to have Adele for the night to let the newly wedded command team have a night alone but the Captain had insisted Adele come home with them. Chakotay had agreed quite easily and three of them returned back to their quarters.

Once Adele had been fed and put to bed, Kathryn and Chakotay retired to bed. Kathryn lay wrapped in Chakotay arms and her head lay on his chest.

"Today was perfect." she told him, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." he said as he kissed her head.

Chakotay couldn't stop smiling as he fell asleep that night. He had a wonderful wife and a beautiful daughter. It was safe to say he felt like the luckiest man in the world.


End file.
